Reuters: US officials cannot explain suspicious Zawahri letter passage

[Charlie Brown]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N1460892.htm

WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence officials who released a letter purporting to be from an al Qaeda leader to Iraq insurgency leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi this week said on Friday they could not account for a passage that has raised doubts about the document's authenticity.

The July 9 dated letter, which U.S. officials say was written by al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, appears near its close to urge the Iraq insurgent leader to send greetings to himself if visiting the Iraqi city of Falluja.

"My greetings to all the loved ones and please give me news of Karem and the rest of the folks I know," says an unedited English translation posted at www.dni.gov, the office Web site of U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte.

A spokesman for Negroponte, who is the U.S. director of national intelligence, or DNI, acknowledged the greetings passage was confusing but said the intelligence community was confident the letter was addressed to Zarqawi by Zawahri.

"We don't know what to make of it (the passage). It's unclear," the Negroponte spokesman said.

The greetings passage gained little noticed from initial news coverage of the letter's release, which came days before this weekend's constitutional referendum in Iraq.

[progressivebydesign]

1. If Negroponte is involved. It's a forgery no doubt. n/t

[politicaholic]

3. Negropante literally translated means "Satan's hand puppet"...

How blatant does it have to be?

"Even more puzzling was later in the letter when he asked for his cohort to pick up eggs and milk on the way back to Evil Terrorist Headquarters."

[Warren Stupidity]

11. ponte - not pante

wouldn't that be 'blackbridge'?

Anyhow he is a vile shithead with a long history of vile shit on his record and he belongs in the clinker with the rest of the vile shitheads.

[rfranklin]

20. Actually it's a "black panties" operation....

Deep undercover stuff.

[Euphen]

2. Juan Cole gives more evidence that the letter is a forgery.

http://www.juancole.com/2005/10/zawahiri-letter-to-zarqawi-shiite.html

[twaddler01]

9. i like this too

*snip*

A purported al-Qaida web posting has charged the United States with fabricating a letter from the group's second in command allegedly to its leader in Iraq asking for money and laying out the group's plans for the Middle East.


"We in al-Qaida declare that there is no truth to these claims, and they are baseless, except in the imagination of the politicians of the Black (White) House," according to the statement on a web site known as a clearing house for al-Qaida material.

The statement was signed by Abu Maysara, who claims to be spokesman for al-Qaida in Iraq. It could not be authenticated.



http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F73A57D8-D113-4FF9-8A61-D384B80A2DFF.htm

[hvn_nbr_2]

4. Which second in command was that?

Was it the second in command before the second in command was killed or the second in command after the other second in command was captured or the other second in command before the first second in command replaced the killed second in command who replaced the previously captured second in command's replacement second in command? It's sooooo confusing.

[mcctatas]

13. The only job more dangerous than crab fisherman...

or drummer from spinal tap is being the Al Queada #2 guy:rofl: The contempt this administration has for the intelligence of the people is astounding!!!

[Ellen Forradalom]

16. "I am the new Number 2."

"Who is Number. 1?"

"You are Number 6."

[supernova]

5. Negreponte has less than zero credibility with me

They probably wrote this note.

[hippiechick]

6. "folks I know" ???

.... sounds like Bush wrote it, not Zawahiri .... :eyes:

[LynnTheDem]

7. "It's unclear". Only if you're a lying stupid MFing rightwingnut.

Otherwise it's crystal clear;

FAKE LETTER. (again)

[truthisfreedom]

8. okay, so the forger mixed the two names up at one point because he was

confused by their similarity, so that he left the letter closing with a man sending greetings to himself? is this what i'm really seeing here?

say i'm a forger, and i'm from Pakistan, and i'm forging a letter from Tom to Tim. and at the end, after talking to Tim this whole time, i say "say hi to me, Tom, if you swing through town."

uhh... what numbnuts idiot can't understand that this is clear evidence of a forger's stupidity? what person in their right mind believes that if my name is Tom and i'm writing to Tim (in reality) that i would call him Tom at the end of my own letter???

what part of "obvious forgery" don't they understand?

the level of idiocy that they expect us to swallow makes me fucking indignant.

[Warren Stupidity]

10. It is amazing just how careless and incompetent they are. nt.

[Up2Late]

12. I'm just amazed that anyone still believes these evil bastards

They are so busted.

Also Check out the newest Mark Fiore Cartoon (Reuse, Recycle, Repeat)

"We captured another #2 guy, and another #2 Guy..."

<http://www.markfiore.com/>

[daleo]

14. The translator/forger slipped up.

Negroponte is a liar, like all things Bush. And a war criminal. And a torturer.

[pinniped]

15. Check his desk drawer for the standard al-Qaeda letter template.

Or...

Tell us how you always happen to come into possession of these "alleged" al-Zarqawi letters.

If these confidential letters were really being intercepted, the alleged terra-dudes would change their delivery methods. They don't have to cahnge shit because their shit doesn't get intercepted.

[oblivious]

17. "Isn't it strange the letter was on Mr Negrponte's personal stationery?"

"We don't know what to make of it (the letterhead). It's unclear," the Negroponte spokesman said. "Someone was sloppy...I mean, someone in the al-Zawahri camp, of course."

[callady]

18. US Can't Explain 'Zarqawi' Letter Detail

US can't explain 'Zarqawi' letter detail
October 15, 2005 - 10:34AM

US intelligence officials who released a letter purporting to be from an al-Qaeda leader to Iraq insurgency leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi this week said they could not account for a passage that has raised doubts about the document's authenticity.

The July 9 dated letter, which US officials say was written by al-Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, appears near its close to urge the Iraq insurgent leader to send greetings to himself if visiting the Iraqi city of Falluja

<snip>

A spokesman for Negroponte, who is the US director of national intelligence, or DNI, acknowledged the greetings passage was confusing but said the intelligence community was confident the letter was addressed to Zarqawi by Zawahri.

<snip>

This would appear to be conclusive evidence that the DNI was mistaken, and that the letter was written to someone other than Zarqawi," Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists said in his email intelligence newsletter, "Secrecy News."

http://smh.com.au/news/World/US-cant-explain-Zarqawi-letter-detail/2005/10/15/1128796735255.html

[SpiralHawk]

19. Quick, the BushCo Propaganda Team

needs to think up an excuse.

Wait, I've got it.

This is all Bill Clinton's fault. As usual.

[arwalden]

21. It's Code. It Means: "Now Is The Time To Put Plan-B Into Action."

[MGKrebs]

22. And that is scary.

If they truly don't know what it means, they certainly should not be releasing it. If they thought it was authentic, that is.

Forgery, or publicly releasing the enemy's coded messages? Pathetic deception or desperate incompetence?

[Marie26]

23. Did you notice how eager McClellan was to talk about this letter?

In the press conference, he gave his usual "stay the course" in Iraq blah blah, then cited the DNI letter as an example for why America needs to continue fighting in Iraq. I think the plan was to steer attention away from the disasterous teleconference to the "war on terror" with the letter, but the reporters weren't really following orders.

[hiabrill]

24. It's Shameful that Dems.....

.....in the Senate and House are incapable of making these blatant LIES by our Intelligence a major issue.


How do they get away with it, over and over again...!!!

[hiabrill]

25. Why doesn't this LIE/FABRICATION make the headline...

It was major news when it first came out, but once exposed, it disappeared...