On October 12, 2005, the CIA published the full-text message purportedly sent on July 2 by Ayman al-Zawāhrī, Usāma Bin Lādin’s right hand man, to Abu Mus‘ab al-Zarqāwī, the Jordanian-born chief of the al-Qā‘ida organization in Iraq. Following are excerpts from the message:
"In the name of God, praise be to God, and praise and blessings be upon the Messenger of God, his family, his Companions, and all those who follow him."
"The gracious brother Abu Mus‘ab, God protect him and watch over him, may His religion, and His Book and the Sunna [tradition] of His Prophet aid him, I ask the Almighty that He bless him, us, and all Muslims, with His divine aid, His clear victory, and His release from suffering be close at hand. Likewise, I ask the Almighty to gather us as He sees fit from the glory of this world and the prize of the hereafter.”
"Dear brother. God Almighty knows how much I miss meeting with you, how much I long to join you in your historic battle against the greatest of criminals and apostates in the heart of the Islamic world, the field where epic and major battles in the history of Islam were fought. I think that if I could find a way to you, I would not delay a day, God willing."
"My dear brother, we are following your news, despite the difficulty and hardship. We received your last published message sent to Sheikh Usāma Bin Lāden, God save him. Likewise, I made sure in my last words that Aljazeera broadcast Saturday, 11 Jumāda I, 1426b, [18 June 2005] to mention you, send you greetings, and show support and thanks for the heroic acts you are performing in defense of Islam and the Muslims, but I do not know what Aljazeera broadcast. Did this part appear or not?” [Editor: To view the full letter, check out the following link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9666242/page/10/].
"I want to reassure you about our situation. The summer started hot with operations escalating in Afghanistan, The enemy struck a blow against us with the arrest of Abu al-Faraj, may God break his bonds. However, no Arab brother was arrested because of him. The brothers tried — and were successful to a great degree — to contain the fall of Abu al-Faraj as much as they could."
"However, the real danger comes from the agent Pakistani army that is carrying out operations in the tribal areas looking for mujāhidīn."
"I want to be the first to congratulate you for what God has blessed you with in terms of fighting battle in the heart of the Islamic world, which was formerly the field for major battles in Islam’s history, and what is now the place for the greatest battle of Islam in this era, and what will happen, according to what appeared in the hadiths [Prophet Muhammad’s tradition] of the Messenger of God about the epic battles between Islam and atheism.”
"It has always been my belief that the victory of Islam will never take place until a Muslim state is established in the manner of the Prophet in the heart of the Islamic world, specifically in the Levant, Egypt, and the neighboring states of the Peninsula and Iraq; however, the center would be in the Levant and Egypt. This is my opinion, which I do not preach as infallible, but I have reviewed historical events and the behavior of the enemies of Islam themselves, and they did not establish Israel in this triangle surrounded by Egypt and Syria and overlooking the Hijāz [the old name of Saudi Arabia] except for their own interests."
"It is strange that the Arab nationalists also have, despite their avoidance of Islamic practice, come to comprehend the great importance of this province. It is like a bird whose wings are Egypt and Syria, and whose heart is Palestine. They have come to comprehend the goal of planting Israel in this region, and they are not misled in this. Rather they have admired their ignorance of the religious nature of this conflict.
We must think for a long time about our next steps and how we want to attain it, and it is my humble opinion that the Jihad in Iraq requires several incremental goals:"
"The first stage: expel the Americans from Iraq."
"The second stage: Establish an Islamic authority or amirate [the lands ruled by amīr, or prince], then develop it and support it until it achieves the level of a caliphate over as much territory as you can to spread its power in Iraq, i.e., in Sunni areas, is in order to fill the void stemming from the departure of the Americans, immediately upon their exit and before un-Islamic forces attempt to fill this void, whether those whom the Americans will leave behind them, or those among the un-Islamic forces who will ... jump at taking power."
"There is no doubt that this amirate will enter into a fierce struggle with the foreign infidel forces, and those supporting them among the local forces, to put it in a state of constant preoccupation with defending itself, to make it impossible for it to establish a stable state which could proclaim a caliphate, and to keep the jihādist groups in a constant state of war, until these forces find a chance to annihilate them."
"The third stage: Extend the jihad wave to the secular countries neighboring Iraq."
"The fourth stage: It may coincide with what came before: the clash with Israel, because Israel was established only to challenge any new Islamic entity."
"My raising this idea ” I don’t claim that it’s infallible — is only to stress something extremely important. And it is that the mujāhidīn must not have their mission end with the expulsion of the Americans from Iraq, and then lay down their weapons, and silence the fighting zeal. We will return to having the secularists and traitors holding sway over us. Instead, their ongoing mission is to establish an Islamic State, and defend it, and for every generation to hand over the banner to the one after it until the Hour of Resurrection.”
"If the manner is thus, we must contemplate our affairs carefully, so that we are not robbed of the spoils, and our brothers did not die, so that others can reap the fruits of their labor."
