Al-Qaeda says letter from its No.2 leader to al-Zarqawi is a U.S. fake

A purported al-Qaeda web posting on Thursday said the United States had fabricated a letter in which the group's No. 2 allegedly wrote to its leader in Iraq asking for money and laying out the terrorist group's

plans for the Middle East.

"We in al-Qaeda declare that there is no truth to these claims, and they are baseless, except in the imagination of the politicians of the Black (White) House," According to the statement on a Web site known as a clearing house for al-Qaeda material. (AP)