Al Qaeda's Bureaucrats

Memos are standard procedure in any bureaucracy, but these familiar-sounding phrases come from a surprising source. "I was very upset by what you did… you did not submit the voucher to the accountant…with respect to the air-conditioning unit, furniture…is not considered private property." Those are part of a two-page memo from an Egyptian manager of Al Qaeda demanding a detailed letter of explanation of his agent for misappropriating cash during "an austerity situation." That's according to recently declassified documents seized in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sebastian Rotella reports them in today's edition of the Los Angeles Times.