Al Qaeda planning Iraq sectarian war

The document was made available on Sunday to The New York Times, with an accompanying translation made by the military. The memo says extremists are failing to enlist support inside the country, and have been unable to scare the Americans into leaving, and even laments Iraq8217;s lack of mountains in which to take refuge.

Yet an attack on Iraq8217;s Shiite majority could rescue the movement, according to the document. The aim, the document contends, is to prompt a counterattack against the Arab Sunni minority. The document says that a war against the Shiites must start soon 8212; at 8216;8216;zero hour8217;8217; 8212; before the Americans hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis.

That is scheduled for the end of June. The document would also constitute the strongest evidence to date of contacts between extremists in Iraq and Al Qaeda. But it does not say whether there was a Qaeda presence in Iraq during Saddam era, nor is there any mention of a collaboration with Saddam loyalists.