February 2004
A Call to Arms
"It is the only way to prolong the duration of the fight between the infidels and us. If we succeed in dragging them into a sectarian war, this will awaken the sleepy Sunnis who are fearful of destruction and death at the hands of the Shia."
—from a 17-page letter purportedly written by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi seeking the assistance of senior Al-Qaeda members.
In early February, various media outlets report that, the month before, U.S. forces had stormed a house in Baghdad and found a computer disk containing a letter addressed to senior Al-Qaeda figures. The writer, believed to be the Jordanian insurgent Zarqawi, asks for assistance in waging a civil war of religious extremism in Iraq and claims to be behind 25 attacks on Shi'as and American and other coalition forces. U.S. officials point to the letter as evidence that "there is clearly a plan on the part of outsiders to come into this country and spark civil war."