Al Qaeda ‘unhappy with Zarqawi’

CAIRO – Six months before the head of al Qaeda in Iraq was killed by a US air strike, Abu Musab al Zarqawi received a letter said to be sent by a top al Qaeda official who was not happy with him and warned that he would be removed if he did not consult with the terror group’s leadership on major issues.

Sent by an al Qaeda leader named “Atiyah”, in the northwest Pakistani region of Waziristan, the 11-page letter also praised al Zarqawi, saying “you have hurt America, the largest infidel Crusader forces in history”. The letter provides a glimpse into the weakened leadership of al Qaeda in Waziristan and shows the rift between the terror group and the leader of its Iraqi branch.First revealed by Iraq’s national security adviser Mouwafak al Rubaie on September 18, the Washington Post reported in Monday’s editions that the letter was the first document to emerge from what the US military described as a “treasure trove” of information uncovered from Iraqi safe houses at the time of al Zarqawi’s death.It’s dated the 10th of the Muslim month of Zhul Qadah, which was around mid-December last year and about six months before al Zarqawi was killed in a US air strike north of Baghdad.In a warning to al Zarqawi that he could be removed, the letter said that “anyone who commits tyranny and aggression upon the people and causes corruption within the land and drives people away from us and our faith and our jihad and from the religion and the message that we carry, then he must be taken to task.Nampa-APThe letter provides a glimpse into the weakened leadership of al Qaeda in Waziristan and shows the rift between the terror group and the leader of its Iraqi branch.First revealed by Iraq’s national security adviser Mouwafak al Rubaie on September 18, the Washington Post reported in Monday’s editions that the letter was the first document to emerge from what the US military described as a “treasure trove” of information uncovered from Iraqi safe houses at the time of al Zarqawi’s death.It’s dated the 10th of the Muslim month of Zhul Qadah, which was around mid-December last year and about six months before al Zarqawi was killed in a US air strike north of Baghdad.In a warning to al Zarqawi that he could be removed, the letter said that “anyone who commits tyranny and aggression upon the people and causes corruption within the land and drives people away from us and our faith and our jihad and from the religion and the message that we carry, then he must be taken to task.Nampa-AP