Al Qaida Journal: We're on the Ropes in Iraq

For anyone who's been following the war this shouldn't come as a suprise. Al Qaida journal found by US forces can be found here.

BAGHDAD — A diary and another document seized during U.S. raids show some Al Qaeda in Iraq leaders fear the terror group is crumbling, with many fighters defecting to American-backed neighborhood groups, the U.S. military said Sunday.

The military revealed two documents discovered by American troops in November: a 39-page memo written by a mid- to high-level Al Qaeda official with knowledge of the group's operations in Iraq's western Anbar province, and a 16-page diary written by another group leader north of Baghdad.

In the Anbar document, the author describes an Al Qaeda in crisis, with citizens growing weary of militants' presence and foreign fighters too eager to participate in suicide missions rather than continuing to fight, said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman.

"We lost cities and afterward, villages... We find ourselves in a wasteland desert," Smith quoted the document as saying.

The memo — believed to have been written in summer 2007 — cites militants' increasing difficulty in moving around and transporting weapons and suicide belts because of better equipped Iraqi police and more watchful citizens, Smith said.

The diary, seized by U.S. troops south of Balad, was written in autumn 2007 by Abu Tariq, who refers to himself as sector leader for al-Qaida in Iraq, Smith said. Tariq wrote that he was once in charge of 600 fighters, but only 20 were left "after the tribes changed course" — a reference to how many Sunni tribesmen have switched sides to fight alongside the Americans, Smith said.

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The documents tell "narrow but compelling stories of the challenges Al Qaeda in Iraq is facing," Smith told reporters in Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone. He stressed that the documents revealed the terror group's weakened operations and morale in only two areas, and that it did not mean Al Qaeda had been defeated.

"This does not signal the end of Al Qaeda in Iraq, but it is a contemporary account of the challenges posed to terrorists from the people of Iraq," Smith said.

He said the documents are believed to be authentic, Smith said, because they contain details that only Al Qaeda in Iraq leaders could know about battlefield movements and tactics.

Smith said the biggest blow to Al Qaeda, according to the documents, has been former Sunni fighters' new alliance with the Americans. At least 77,500 volunteers have partnered with U.S. and Iraqi troops countrywide, he said.