Low morale

CNN reported The U.S. military said Tuesday it has seized a letter from Iraqi insurgents believed to be intended for Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi complaining about low morale among followers and weakening support for the insurgency.

"What has happened to myself and my brothers is an unforgivable crime, but God will punish the oppressor," the letter reads. "I swear by God that you will be asked about what happened to us because you have not asked about the situation of the migrants. Morale is down and there is fatigue among mujahedeen ranks.

"There is discrimination by some of the brethren emirs. God would not accept such actions, and a simple mistake delays victory, so what about big mistakes and gross guilts? Many underestimate them and are lenient toward them."

Joe Gandelman blogged The letter comes against this backdrop: The new government was finally sworn in and the Prime Minister tried to reach out to Sunni insurgents:""Come back to our people with atonement and apology so you can take part in the process of rebuilding and development," soft-spoken Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari said. "Our heart is big, and can encompass you all, unless you shed blood or violated the integrity of others."

Captain Ed blogged It appears that all is not well among the fanatics, who have the same issues of esprit de corps that any other unit has. The fact that such criticism exists within a notoriously top-down organization speaks volumes about the effectiveness of the counterinsurgency in Iraq. The brazenness of correcting Zarqawi by letter shows that his credibility among the lunatics of AQ may already be seriously damaged. Zarqawi's retreat from Fallujah represented a major defeat for the insurgency, even if Western news agencies were slow to recognize it. The terrorists had staked their reputation on defending what they called the City of Mosques, practically daring the Americans to drive them off. Their prestige soared when the Americans backed off an offensive last spring designed to free the city, instead agreeing to allow Fallujah to operate autonomously with a militia ostensibly loyal to the interim Iraqi government. It quickly became apparent that the city remained in control of Zarqawi's lieutenants and became a base of operation for terrorist missions throughout Iraq.

Smash blogged Don't you just hate it when other people read your private letters?

Charles Johnson blogged This isn’t good news for the inmates of Democratic Underground or useful idiots like Mike Whitney, but the “insurgency” is falling apart

James Joyner: blogged So we have a letter whose authenticity can not be verified from an individual we do not know written to someone called "Sheik" that indicates at least one person is dissatisfied with said Sheik? Color me unimpressed. Charles Johnson and Jonah Goldberg are slightly more excited.

Jonah Goldberg blogged Zarqawi (allegedly) complains that morale is low. Better news would be if he complained that his leg shackles were too tight. But we'll take what we can get. Whoops! The letter is (allegedly) to Zarqawi not from him. Sorry. Perils of fast reading when on deadline.

I can't imagine them having any reason to have a high morale