You might remember Bush's
MAJOR SPEECH last week, when he talked about al-Qaeda's goal of re-establishing
The Caliphate.
On Tuesday, The Office of the Director of National Intelligence published a letter that was allegedly written by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri (Al-Qaeda #2) and addressed to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (Leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq). Keep in mind that the office of DNI is headed by none other than former Ambassador John Negroponte. You can get a copy of the letter in english or Arabic here: Letter from al-Zawahiri to al-Zarqawi.
Many of you here at DailyKos were
very skeptical of the origins of this letter and for good reason.
Yesterday the Reuters news agency ran an article about al-Qaeda in Iraq denying the authenticity of the letter.
Al-Qaeda statement:
"We in Al Qaeda Organization announce that there is no truth to these claims, which are only based on the imagination of the politicians of the Black (White) House and their slaves," the group said in a statement posted on an Islamist Web site.
Furthermore, the article focused on how experts were split over the authenticity of the letter.
Ken Katzman, a terrorism expert with the Congressional Research Service -- the in-house think-tank of the U.S. Congress -- said the letter contained elements that raised doubts about its authenticity.
"The purported letter has Zawahri admitting to certain things that it's not realistic for him to admit, because he would know there's a potential this letter might be intercepted," Katzman said.
He said they included a request for money from Zarqawi, an admission that Pakistan's army is hunting for al Qaeda and how the arrest of a top operative affected the network.
Source: Sedarat, Firouz. "Al Qaeda in Iraq says Zawahiri letter is fake- Web." Reuters. October 13, 2005.
Then today, Professor Juan Cole published his take on the letter and concluded that it is most likely a forgery produced by a Shi'ite muslim. Read his post in its entirety here: Zawahiri Letter to Zarqawi: A Shiite Forgery?
Professor Cole said:
My gut tells me that the letter is a forgery. Most likely it is a black psy-ops operation of the US. But it could also come from Iran, since the mistakes are those a Shiite might make when pretending to be a Sunni. Or it could come from an Iraqi Shiite group attempting to manipulate the United States. Hmmm.
Now if the Zawahiri letter was a forgery- it was published by a government agency, The Office of the Director of National Intelligence. I'm not some legal scholar, but I recall hearing that it is a federal crime for a government agency to publish forged documents. I took a look at the U.S. Code and found this:
U.S. Code: Title 18, Part I , Chapter 47, Section 1001
§ 1001. Statements or entries generally
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully--
(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact;
(2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or
(3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.(note: emphasis added)
If there are any legal scholars or U.S. Attorneys out there, PLEASE look into this forgery.
Fire away my friends, I wanna hear what you have to say.