Posted by
Always To The Right on Thursday, September 28, 2006 12:02:36 AM
The New York Sun
http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=40461 has some good news:
*** QUOTE ***
On a day when much of the capital's attention was focused on leaked
excerpts of an intelligence estimate report that suggested the Iraq war
was creating more jihadists, the military quietly released an intercepted
letter from Al Qaeda complaining that the terrorist organization was
losing ground in Iraq.
The letter, found in the headquarters of Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq,
Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, after he was killed on June 7, was sent to Zarqawi
by a senior Al Qaeda leader who signs his name simply "Atiyah." He
complains that Al Qaeda is weak both in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border
region and in Iraq. . . .
"Know that we, like all the Mujahidin, are still weak," he wrote in the
letter dated December 11, 2005. "We are in the stage of weakness and a
state of paucity. We have not yet reached a level of stability. We have
no alternative but to not squander any element of the foundations of
strength, or any helper or supporter."
*** END QUOTE ***
In fact, the NIE summary begins by noting that "United States-led
counterterrorism efforts have seriously damaged the leadership of al-Qa'ida
and disrupted its operations." No one said this was going to be easy,
and like any important and challenging undertaking, it requires patience
and forbearance.