An interesting find in the Zarkman's (un)safe house:

As an overall picture, time has been an element in affecting negatively the forces of the occupying countries, due to the losses they sustain economically in human lives, which are increasing with time. However, here in Iraq, time is now beginning to be of service to the American forces and harmful to the resistance for the following reasons:

I particularly like this problem they seem to be having:

By undertaking a media campaign against the resistance resulting in weakening its influence inside the country and presenting its work as harmful to the population rather than being beneficial to the population.

Those evil propagandists! Only they could fool people into thinking that brutally murdering and blowing up innocent men, women and children, and kidnapping and people and making head-chopping snuff films with them, was harmful to the population.

Anyway, they must be talking about Iraqi media. I haven't seen much of that in the western press. Most of what I read here, based on interviews with Murtha and Kerry, is that we can't win, and must give up. Wonder what they'll have to say about this document? Someone should ask them. But they won't.

And note that the enemy knows who its best friends are, as evidenced by the fact that this is their numero uno strategem:

To improve the image of the resistance in society, increase the number of supporters who are refusing occupation and show the clash of interest between society and the occupation and its collaborators. To use the media for spreading an effective and creative image of the resistance.

Yup. They keep playing the western media like a finely-tuned Strad. And the western media love the tune, because they share a common enemy--George Bush.

[Update in the afternoon]

I just noticed in reading more carefully that a key part of Al Qaeda/Iraq's strategy seems to be to foment a war between the US and Iran. We'll have to look out for this. I wonder if the Iranian government is aware of this (and if they've been harboring Al Qaeda types to whom they'll no longer be as friendly).

[Update a couple minutes later]

Here's a story that says the Iraqi government believes that it's broken the back of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

The mine of information from Al-Qaeda documents seized during raids spelt "the beginning of the end" for the terror group, said Iraqi national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie

"We believe Al-Qaeda in Iraq was taken by surprise; they did not anticipate how powerful the Iraqi security forces are and how the government is on the attack now," Rubaie told reporters.

The documents had given Iraq an "edge over Al-Qaeda and will also give us the whereabouts of their network and their leaders and their weapons, and the way they lead the organisation and the whereabouts of their meetings".

I hope they're right, but I'll keep the champagne chilled for now.

[Update at 3:30 PM]

One more interesting point about that letter from the (un)safe house, re: benefits to AQ in Iraq of a US/Iran war:

“The possibility of acquiring new weapons from the Iranian side, either after the fall of Iran or during the battles.”

Emphasis mine. Who do they think (in bin Laden's lexicon) is the "strong horse" now?

So, to paraphrase Zarqawi's memo:

"Although time is on the side of the infidels, Time continues to be on our side."