New Bombings Prove Z/Z Letter

Those foolish people who tried to disprove the authenticity of the Zawahiri/Zarqawi letter have some 'splaining to do.

Yesterday's coordinated suicide attack with three huge explosions outside the Palestine Hotel shows again that Zarqawi is following the direction he received from Zawahiri to focus attacks more on Westerners and less on Muslims.

This is the first highly planned attack since the Z/Z letter became public, and it definitely was an anti-Western mission, according to WashTimes:

The largest explosion tore away parts of the Palestine Hotel, which together with the Sheraton Hotel sits some 40 yards from the road. It is protected by large concrete barriers.

The Palestine is favored by TV crews from the Associated Press, Fox News and the Arabic-language U.S.-funded Al-Hurra television, among others. Contractors employed by Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root often stay at the Sheraton.

Another bomb exploded near the al-Sadeer Hotel, which sits across the square and is popular with expatriate police advisers and private security contractors. The al-Sadeer has been attacked several times.

Possible good news in this: Iraqi national security advisor Mouwafak al-Rubaie thinks the ultimate goal of the mission was to take hostages -- following intelligence reports that the media were to be targeted for hostage-taking -- but that the mission failed in that regard.