A letter from Osama bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was intercepted by American forces this summer. Yesterday, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence released the letter, which provides a window into the strategic thinking of al Qaeda’s leadership.

American Future has dissected the letter and notes that not all is well for al Qaeda or for the effort to stop the march of democracy in Iraq.

One interesting tidbit in the letter is the degree to which al Qaeda depends on the media for its own success. Zarqawi says “more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media” and holds out hope that “[t]hings may develop faster than we imagine. The aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam—and how they ran and left their agents—is noteworthy.”

In other words, Zarqawi hopes that the media will sway enough Americans against the war, leading to a Vietnam-like pull-out and a huge power vacuum (and opportunity for al Qaeda) in Iraq.

As if on cue, The New York Times spins the Zarqawi letter thusly:

In [the letter], Mr. Zawahiri told Mr. Zarqawi that the American occupation of Iraq had provided Islamic militants with a historic opportunity to win popular support.

Actually, the letter seems quite the opposite: al Qaeda’s global leadership has had its lines of communication severed and is in desperate need of money, and Zarqawi’s constant killings of Muslims in Iraq are turning the Iraqi people away from al Qaeda. Leave it to The New York Times to report this as “a historic opportunity to win popular support.” Yeah, and having your car stolen is a great opportunity to get a new car.

John Hinderaker at PowerLine takes a closer look at the letter and the Times’s mis-reporting of it.