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Bin Laden On Unity

Osama Bin Laden has issued a statement about the need for unity among perfervid Muslims.  This is not one of his characteristic tropes.  Indeed, he doesn't really think of Shi'a as Muslims at all.  But serious observers think that Osama's words and voice impute desperation to his faithful fanatics and, of course, therefore, to serious observers of the war in Iraq.  Richard Clarke, a severe critic of the war from its earliest days and a slightly unreliable manager of U.S. operations against Al Qaeda in both the Clinton and early Bush administrations, has observed that one reason for Osama's trepidation is that the war has been going better for us than for them.

Will the Democrats treat this as good news or as a trap?