USA: SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL SAYS ALLEGED AL QAEDA LETTER IS "VERY REVEALING"

Record ID: 222980

  • Title: USA: SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL SAYS ALLEGED AL QAEDA LETTER IS "VERY REVEALING"
  • Date: 10th February 2004
  • Summary: (U6) WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 9, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL EXITING STATE DEPARTMENT WITH DUTCH FOREIGN MINISTER BERNARD BOT; REPORTERS 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) POWELL SAYING "With respect to the letter itself, it's very revealing. They describe that they have in their efforts undercut the coalition's efforts. But at the same time, it shows they haven't given up. They are trying to get more terrorists into Iraq and they are trying to create more terrorists organizations to try to defeat our purposes. 0.54 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th February 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAAG19XBQ843QQGLEAM0PCKE4ZZ
  • Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says alleged al
    Qaeda letter is "very revealing".

    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Monday
    (February 9) a seized letter attributed to a militant
    islamist was "very revealing."
    The letter is believed to be written by Abu Musab
    Zarqawi, whom Washington suspects in the killing of a U.S.

    diplomat in Jordan in 2002 and of links to Ansar al-Islam,
    a militant group operating in Iraq.

    Powell said: "It shows they haven't given up. They are
    trying to get more terrorists into Iraq and they are trying
    to create more terrorists organizations to try to defeat
    our purposes, they will not succeed."
    Last October the United States offered a reward of up
    to $5 million U.S. dollars for information leading to the
    arrest or conviction of Zarqawi, who was sentenced to death
    in absentia by a Jordanian court last year for plotting
    attacks against U.S. and Israeli targets.

    Zarqawi is also suspected of orchestrating the murder
    of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley in the Jordanian capital
    Amman in October 2002.

    Iraq's U.S. occupiers have long said they suspect al
    Qaeda, blamed for the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities,
    has played a role in the insurgency against U.S. troops and
    particularly in attacks on civilian targets in Iraq.


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