Baghdad
An Islamic militant with ties to al Qaida has complained that the Iraqi people are not turning against the Americans, despite his best efforts to destabilize the country. The U.S. military intercepted a letter, from Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi to al Qaida’s leadership, in which Zarqawi says he has been attacking sites in Iraq in a vain attempt to cause a civil war. Zarqawi, who is a suspect in last year’s bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, asks for more operatives so he can attack Iraq’s Shiite majority and provoke retaliation against the Sunnis. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the letter showed that insurgents were “trying to get more terrorists into Iraq.” Some 50 people died this week in the bombing of a police station.
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