Al Qaeda in Iraq says Zawahri letter is fake - Web

Firouz Sedarat

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq on Thursday rejected as a fabrication a letter by a top group leader that was issued by U.S. officials and suggested deep internal rifts among militants.

According to the letter, released this week by U.S. intelligence officials, al Qaeda's second in command Ayman al-Zawahri urged the group's leader in Iraq to prepare for an Islamic government to take over when U.S. forces leave.

The letter warns Zarqawi the killing of Shi'ite civilians and hostages risked alienating Sunnis at a time when al Qaeda in Iraq should be seeking support for a religious state.

But Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said the letter's release showed the "bankruptcy plaguing the infidels' camp."

"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.

"All of this is in a letter attributed to our Mujahid sheikh ... and naturally we do not know how and where this letter is to have been found," said the statement signed by the group's spokesman in Iraq.

U.S. officials said the July 9 letter, addressed to Iraq's al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was obtained during operations in Iraq.

SPLIT OVER AUTHENTICITY

In Washington, U.S. officials and experts were split on the letter's authenticity.

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.

A U.S. security official said: "There's every reason to believe it's legitimate. We have high confidence that it's legitimate."

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to say what steps were taken to authenticate the letter for fear of revealing intelligence sources and methods.

Michael Scheuer, a former CIA analyst and critic of the U.S. war against terrorism, also said the letter appeared authentic.

Scheuer said the letter's admission of setbacks were typical of al Qaeda. "They have always been almost puritanical in talking about setbacks."

Several experts said the letter contained far fewer Koranic references and quotations than other Zawahri statements.

The letter was released days before Iraqis were to vote in a referendum on a new constitution in which U.S. authorities hope for a large turnout among Sunni Muslim Arabs.

Many Sunni Arabs oppose Saturday's referendum, and some experts say that Zarqawi declared war on Iraq's majority Shi'ites last month to curry favor among the disaffected.

(Additional reporting by Caroline Drees and David Morgan in Washington)