hmmm, maybe it’s because OBL and his 2nd aren’t a priority…even though cutting the head off a snake might deter a few suicide bombers…or break a significant chain in the information channel.

we’ve been suckered in by these guys and the Bush admin is too stupid to realize it, or can’t admit a mistake.

2. By depleting our military resources and treasure in a fruitless war in Iraq, we’re weakening ourselves as a nation. They see this as parallel to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which left the USSR in a weakened state and contributed to its eventual downfall”

Yes very well put, maha- it is what I have been arguing all along- especially the second point. I have never heard the second point discussed by anyone from the administration. Nor have they ever admitted the folly of the invasion of Iraq by our predecessors, the British, at the end of WWII. The British occupied Iraq for 12 long years, sustaining high costs and high casualty rates. They tried to establish Democratic institutions, but were totally unsuccessful. They finally withdrew, and the country eventually devolved into total autocracy, as it was under Saddam.

Look for this statement to be mentioned and quoted by Democrats (on progressive talk and during the Democratic primary debates and perhaps in the Presidential campaign) in the months to come.

It’s been the Republicans who’ve repeatedly used these messages.

From Judd Gregg last September, (while defending Don Rumsfeld)

The words of Zarqawi and the words of bin Laden have been very specific: Iraq is where they see the war being waged. Their purpose is to use Iraq as a bootstrap to pursue their goals of basically undermining and destroying western culture and killing Americans. You need to believe their words. If your enemy tells you what they are going to do, and your enemy then does what they tell you they are going to do, you have to start taking them seriously when he tells you something else. And when Osama bin Laden and Zarqawi say Iraq is where the war is being fought, where the effort to pursue Islamic fundamentalism is being pursued and aggressively undertaken, then you have to take that seriously.

If your enemy keeps playing you for a fool, and you keep acting like one, why should the rest of us unite behind your “brilliant” strategy?

Question: does this statement contain a hint that there could operations on the terrorists’ drawingboard to try and eliminate a larger number of American military?

Zawahiri’s message is a taunt, nothing more. It was recorded from the safety of another country, 100′s of miles away from the danger zone.

Of course he wants us to waste our time on a mission that’s become a rallying cry for the entire Arab world against the United States, instead of chasing him down in his bunker and destroying his organization.

otherwise let’s understand what they want (to divide public opinion here even further) and do the opposite.

See, I don’t think letting al-Qaeda determine our foreign policy for us is a good move. It seems axiomatic to me that, instead, we should determine our interests and then act on that.

And unfortunately, some here seem to want to play right into their strategy to divide us from within. Maybe it is time to remember who the real enemy is? Let the experts analyze the tapes to see if they’ve inadvertantly tipped their hand on either their location or their plans, and otherwise let’s understand what they want (to divide public opinion here even further) and do the opposite.

Look for this statement to be mentioned and quoted by Democrats (on progressive talk and during the Democratic primary debates and perhaps in the Presidential campaign) in the months to come.

I’m sure we’ll see it as much if not more from the right, as they engage in the al-Qaeda kremlinology that they love so much (‘al-Qaeda knows we can’t take them at face value, so their actual meaning is the exact opposite of the explicit meaning’ and so on and so on).

Um … do you think they *aren’t* planning that? That’s kind of what war is.

I wish people would stop paying these videos any heed, instead of letting them serve AQ’s purpose.

No, I don’t think it is. Of course they’d like to slaughter as many American soldiers as they can, but their real purpose for wanting us to stay in Iraq (and, believe me, they want us to stay in Iraq) is twofold:

1. Our presence in Iraq is a mighty recruiting incentive. Osama bin Laden had been saying for years that he wanted to lure a western power into invading a Muslim country.

2. By depleting our military resources and treasure in a fruitless war in Iraq, we’re weakening ourselves as a nation. They see this as parallel to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which left the USSR in a weakened state and contributed to its eventual downfall.

It’s in al Qaeda’s interest to keep us in Iraq as long as possible. But killing American soldiers isn’t the main objective.