Al-Qaeda has deemed fake the Letter of exchange between a top al-Qaeda official and al-Zarqawi in Iraq US officials alledgedly obtained recently. As Kurt Nimmo humorously notes,

It is simply astounding how many videos and audio tapes and letters slip through al-Qaeda’s fingers and into the hands of the Pentagon, the State Department, and various Bushites and intelligence factotums. Recall the Osama dinner party video found in Afghanistan and the “al-Qaeda in Iraq” chemical weapons plant left behind in Fallujah. Now we have a letter purportedly from Ayman al-Zawahri to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, “acquired during U.S. operations in Iraq,” according to the Associated Press. How this supposed letter was “acquired” is not revealed. Maybe Ayman didn’t affix the correct postage. Or maybe Abu didn’t leave a change of address.

Could this be a desperate attempt on the part of the Bush Administration to forge ties between the Iraqi insurgency and al-Qaeda? No need for a letter, George. All we need to do is sit back and look at what has happened since the 2003 invasion, and, note, not beforehand.

1. Terrorism has increased substantially. As the Washington Post reported on 14 January, 2005,

   Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of "professionalized" terrorists, according to a report released yesterday by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA director's think tank.

2. Al-Qaeda has in fact set up a stronghold and expanded its network in occupied Iraq. While the "Sept. 11 commission reported yesterday that it has found no 'collaborative relationship' between Iraq and al Qaeda, challenging one of the Bush administration's main justifications for the war in Iraq," as the Washington Post reported in 2004, al-Qaeda is staging regular attacks in Iraq, and Iraq is soon replacing Afghanistan as the center of the al-Qaeda network.

And a fake letter was supposed to alter lies?
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UPDATE: Juan Cole of Informed Comment says:
"The Arabic text of the recently released letter alleged to be by Zawahiri (al-Qaeda's number two man) to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq raises questions for me as to its authenticity."
Read what he has to say.