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updated 9:05 p.m. ET Oct. 11, 2005

Editor’s note: A senior U.S. intelligence official provided NBC News with copies of the original Arabic and English translation of the July 9 letter from Ayman al-Zawahiri to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. This is the letter as published Tuesday on the Web site of the Director of National Intelligence. Anomalies of logic, punctuation, numerical and alphabetical order have been left intact. Despite some passages that indicate that it may be addressed to another person in Zarqawi's organization, the U.S. government “has the highest confidence in the letter's authenticity,” the Web site said.

In the name of God, praise be to God, and praise and blessings be upon the Messenger of God, his family, his Companions, and all those who follow him.

The gracious brother Abu Musab, God protect him and watch over him, may His religion, and His Book and the Sunna of His Prophet aid him, I ask the Almighty that he bless him, us, and all Muslims, with His divine aid, His clear victory, and His release from suffering be close at hand. Likewise, I ask the Almighty to gather us as He sees fit from the glory of this world and the prize of the hereafter.

1. Dear brother. God Almighty knows how much I miss meeting with you, how much I long to join you in your historic battle against the greatest of criminals and apostates in the heart of the Islamic world, the field where epic and major battles in the history of Islam were fought. I think that if I could find a way to you, I would not delay a day, God willing.

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2. My dear brother, we are following your news, despite the difficulty and hardship. We received your last published message sent to Sheikh Usama Bin Ladin, God save him. Likewise, I made sure in my last speech-that Al-Jazeera broadcast Saturday, 11 Jumadi I, 1426b, [18 June 2005] to mention you, send you greetings, and show support and thanks for the heroic acts you are performing in defense of Islam and the Muslims, but I do not know what Al-Jazeera broadcast. Did this part appear or not? I will try to attach the full speech with this message, conditions permitting.

Likewise, I showed my support for your noble initiative to join with your brothers, during a prior speech I sent to the brothers a number of months ago, but the brothers' circumstances prevented its publication.

3. I want to reassure you about our situation. The summer starred hot with operations escalating in Afghanistan, The enemy struck a blow against us with the arrest of Abu al-Faraj, may God break his bonds. However, no Arab brother was arrested because of him. The brothers tried — and were successful to a great degree — to contain the fall of Abu al-Faraj as much as they could.