From Zarqawi's memory stick

CNN:

Al Qaeda in Iraq was planning to exacerbate already hostile tensions between Iran and the United States in order to climb out of a "bleak" situation in Iraq, according to al Qaeda in Iraq documents cited by the Iraqi government.

Such plans included the delivery of threatening messages attributed to Shiite Iranians and the carrying out of attacks under the guise of Iranian collusion, the Iraqi government cited the documents as saying.

Al Qaeda in Iraq also considered planting information that Iran has ties to terror groups, has been in possession of weapons of mass destruction, and is attempting to carry out terror operations in the West, the documents said, according to the Iraqi government.

The documents were among computer records recovered from a tiny hard drive on terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's computer found at one of his safehouses, said the Iraqi government.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said on Thursday the computer hard drive was recovered during three weeks of intensive operations prior to the airstrike that killed al-Zarqawi. He said the information helped lead forces to al-Zarqawi's hiding place.

...

Caldwell also showed for the first time a photo of the man said to have replaced al-Zarqawi as the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq -- Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

The Defense Intelligence Agency declassified the photograph on Wednesday, said Caldwell, adding that someone else may try to unseat al-Masri.

U.S. intelligence was split Wednesday over whether al-Masri was the same person as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer who was named as al-Zarqawi's successor in a Web message last week.

...

There is more. The documents offer an interesting insight into the enemy strategy in Iraq and the middle east. Apparently al Qaeda wanted a new war with the Ayatollahs, to be fought by the US and Iraq. That would be considerably upping the ante over just sectarian violence. It also shows a sense of desperation at the failure of its campaign in Iraq to achieve its objective. It appears to be a strategy of enlarging the problem in hopes of picking up the pieces. It should also give the Iranians pause.

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