Insugency diminishing

Maybe Zarqawi's 15 minutes of fame are about up.

The letter, dated April 27, was signed by Abu Asim al-Qusaymi al-Yemeni, who Whitman said was an Al Qaeda member and veteran of fighting last year in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. The letter was seized during an April 28 raid in Baghdad, the military said.

The writer condemns some middle-rank Al Qaeda leaders in Iraq -- the ''emirs," Arabic for ''princes" -- and asks the sheik to ''test those who are below you. Some of them are . . . oppressors."

''Morale is weakening, and there is [exhaustion or confusion] among the ranks on the mujahideen," the writer says, according to an Associated Press translation of the copy provided by the military. ''We have found emirs who are not fit for leadership."