KIND OF PITIFUL WHEN....

Letters from Al Qaeda leaders show Iraqi effort is in disarray (Bill Roggio, September 11, 2008, Long War Journal)

Al Qaeda's senior leadership has lost confidence in its commander in Iraq and views the situation in the country as dire, according to a series of letters intercepted by Multinational Forces Iraq earlier this year.

The letters, which have been sent exclusively to The Long War Journal by Multinational Forces Iraq, are a series of communications between Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command, Abu Ayyub al Masri, al Qaeda in Iraq's leader, and Abu Omar al Baghdadi, the leader of al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq. These letters were intercepted by Coalition forces in Baghdad on April 24, 2008. One of the letters written by Zawahiri is dated March 6, 2008. [...]

The series of letters highlights the divisions within al Qaeda in Iraq and highlights al Qaeda's senior leadership's questions about the leadership in Iraq. Al Masri is portrayed as an ineffective leader who is refusing to respond to questions by al Qaeda's senior leadership based in Pakistan. Leaders also criticize al Qaeda in Iraq's propaganda campaign, stating the group has intentionally deceived followers by releasing old footage and inflating enemy casualties.

Much of the criticism of al Masri comes from a senior al Qaeda in Iraq leader known as Abu Suleiman al Otaibi, a Saudi national who served as a senior leader in al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq. Otaibi "migrated" to Afghanistan at the end of 2007, where he then reported to al Qaeda's leadership on al Masri's leadership flaws. Otaibi was killed by US forces during a strike in Paktia province in the spring of 2008.

Otaibi's concerns about al Masri are expressed in Zawahiri's letter to Baghdadi, where al Masri is portrayed as an ineffective, rash leader who has cut himself off from al Qaeda in Iraq's field commanders. Al Masri, according to Otaibi, only communicates through a tight circle of "very leading personalities" in order to avoid being targeted by US forces. He bristles at criticism of his actions or those of his appointed commanders and refuses to accept bad news.

Otaibi's harshest criticism of al Masri is leveled at the latter's decision to send a force of al Qaeda fighters into Ramadi in late June 2007. Al Masri is said to have ordered the al Qaeda fighters to attack Ramadi "in a moment of anger against the brothers ... despite of the great danger." At that time, the Awakening and Iraqi and US security forces consolidated control over much of Anbar province, and al Qaeda’s network was seriously degraded in the region.

...you have the Peter Principle invoked against you by a cavedweller.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 11, 2008 4:23 PM