Iraq official says al-Qaida in 'bad shape'

BAGHDAD, June 16 (UPI) -- A captured al-Qaida document proves the terrorist group is in "pretty bad shape," a top Iraqi official says.

"We believe that this is the beginning of the end of al-Qaida in Iraq," Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, the Iraqi national security adviser, told USA Today.

The document, released Thursday, said fomenting a U.S.-Iran war had been considered to offset successes against al-Qaida in Iraq, the newspaper said.

The author of the document complained that the group was weak and would benefit from opening a second front in the war to divert U.S. efforts in Iraq.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said the document was found in a raid prior to the one that killed al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on June 7.

It was not clear who wrote the document.