Billmon: Letter Opener

Evidence seems to be accumulating that the celebrated letter from Ayman al-Zawahiri (bin Ladin's deputy) to the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- which the corporate media have been gobbling up like a dog in a meatball factory -- is actually what Al Qaeda claims it is: a fake. Juan Cole notices a curious fact: The opening salutation (blessings upon the Messenger of God etc. etc.) is in a form most commonly used in the Shi'a tradition -- a rather odd way for an Egyptian Sunni fundamentalist to greet a Jordanian Sunni fundamentalist who delights in the massacre of unarmed Shi'a women and children.