bin Laden wants a truce?

"In response to the substance of the polls in the U.S., which indicate that Americans do not want to fight Muslims on Muslim land, nor do they want Muslims to fight them on their land, we do not mind offering a long-term truce based on just conditions that we will stick to."

I know this sounds familiar! Once upon a time, a fanatic bent on world domination wanted a truce. What happened after he got it?

Oh, now I remember.

Some people are suggesting (Scott McCellan) that this is a last act of desperation on bin Laden's part. I disagree; I think hes doing this because he knows he has the capability to attack us very soon. Hes going to offer us a truce, which he knows we won't accept, and then hes going to attack us somewhere. Its going to appear to many as if bin Laden somehow possesses the ability to attack us anywhere at will. Creating that perception is probably his intention. Obviously, he doesn't have that ability. This newest threat, if it materializes, has probably been 3-4 years in the making.

Perhaps he is convinced that Americans will respond in the same way that the Spanish did after the train bombings. If that is his assumption, he is wrong - I think we all know how Americans respond to threats and/or violence.

"Our mujahedeen were able to overcome all the security measures in European countries, and you saw their operation in major European capitals" -- apparent references to July's transit bombings in London and the 2004 train attacks in Madrid, Spain.

What security measures in European countries?

"Your President Bush has been misleading you. He has lied when he said that the people are behind him. Opinion polls have indicated that the overwhelming majority of you want him to pull the troops out of our land."

"We have the answer to [this] misleading information. The situation in Iraq is getting worse for you, and the dead and the injured among you is on the rise," the voice on the tape said."

Our troubles in Iraq have relatively little to do with bin Laden. In fact, Al Qaeda has helped our cause in Iraq probably more than it has hurt it. The subject of Al Qaeda has been one that all Iraqis - Sunni, Shia, and Kurd have agreed upon; they all hate it. Al Qaeda can hardly claim Iraq as a victory; even after an American departure there is no way Al Qaeda will gain control of that country.