Here’s the obvious goof: the letter mentions “Israel” when in fact the jihadists, or members of the CIA-ISI-MI6 created terror network, never use this word, preferring instead to call the tiny settler state the “Zionist entity.” Moreover, according to terrorism analyst Stephen Ulph of the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation, it is unlikely al-Zawahri would spell out the “four-stage strategy for the insurgency in Iraq in detail to Zarqawi,” as he supposedly does in the letter. “That would be a given,” Ulph told United Press International. “There’s no reason to set it out in so much detail.”

Obviously, this detailed description is for public consumption, talking points for neocons that are determined to convince us that we must support the interminable war against terrorism, or in the case of Iraq, the war against resistance to the Anglo-American occupation.

Of course, it really does not matter, since most Americans don’t pay attention to such details, instead concentrating on sensational headlines and sixty second sound bites on Fox News. Ayman al-Zawahri’s letter is simply another ill-defined and carelessly contrived piece of misinformation designed to add gloss to the “al-Qaeda” myth and, as well, keep this Orwellian bestiary alive in the public imagination. It does not really matter if the al-Zawahri letter makes sense or if it is even believable. It took on a factual incandesce the moment Bush mentioned it.