Al Qaeda plots Iraqi ‘sectarian’ war
US officials have confirmed terrorist network al-Qaeda planned to incite a religious war in Iraq.
A 17-page memo – detailed by the New York Times – and reportedly from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a suspected Jordanian militant, which was intended for the al-Qaeda leadership, calls for a “sectarian war” and suggests whipping up the Shia-Sunni conflict to stir resistance against the US-led coalition into action.
It says attacking Shia targets would create a backlash against the Sunnis, and thereby create fresh recruits for al-Qaeda.
The message was found on a computer disk confiscated during a raid on a Baghdad house in mid-January.
The document says the coalition “has no intention of leaving, no matter how many wounded nor how bloody it becomes.
“So the solution, and only God knows, is that we need to bring the Shia into the battle.”
It goes on: “Our enemy is growing stronger day after day, and its intelligence information increases.
“We have to get to the zero hour in order to openly begin controlling the land by night, and after that by day, God willing.
“The Americans will continue to control from their bases, but the sons of this land will be the authority. This is the democracy. We will have no pretexts.”
Iraq’s majority Shias were persecuted under former dictator Saddam Hussein, himself a Sunni.
In light of the find, US military spokesman Brigadier-General Mark Kimmit told reporters: “There is clearly a plan on the part of outsiders to come into this country and spark civil war, breed sectarian violence and try to expose fissures in the society.”
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the letter gave “credence” to the view that al-Qaeda had clear links with the Iraqi leadership.
