Still waiting...

For a message from the Sheikh. We've heard from Ayman Zawahiri, who vowed that AQ would not remain silent, but they kept promising UBL would follow. Everyone eagerly awaits his take on how things are going down, including the exciting news about his son being released from house arrest in Tehran.

And things are going down alright--we're just not sure which drain. Israel continues to mop up Hizballah positions while Lebanese leaders sit on their hands. The Syrian Ba'athists daily disprove the notion that secular Arab regimes aren't capable of forging strategic ties with Islamists if it suits their purposes, as we were lectured about Saddam.

Perhaps the deteriorating conditions in Iraq juxtaposed with Israel's Lebanese offensive against Shia terrorists is complicating the message for Bin Laden. With so much to exploit of late, such as the comments from American generals and politicians, you'd think AQ's press department would be working overtime.

Thing is, AQ has already taken a position regards Lebanon, which was to encourage jihad against Israel but not necessarily hand in hand with the Shiite dogs. It's hard for them to get specific when they're backing the Sunni insurgency in Iraq against those very same Shiites, who at last check were out marching in support of Hizballah and Iran.

If AQ was really entertaining a new paradigm of sectarian unity surely bin Laden would have proclaimed it via fatwa, such as calling for an immediate cease-fire. Yet he has not. Matter of fact they recently praised Zarqawi again, whose sole mission in Iraq was to foment civil war, and whose likely legacy remains the destruction of the Shia's Golden Shrine that triggered our current snafu.

We can only assume he believes that saying anything is more harmful than silence at this point. Not sure if that's good or bad.

SPEAKING OF DIVIDED 8/5/06

9/11 Commission members Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton's upcoming book, if we can believe MyWay News, sounds kinda like a hot poker. We should welcome the questions.

For example, they had a former Secretary of the Navy on the panel, but not an aviation expert. And with people like former Kerry supporter Max Cleland, Jamie "the wall" Gorelick and Richard Ben-Veniste on the panel it's flat amazing they got through page 10.

Conflicts of interest seemed common. Ben-Veniste was quoted as saying,

"We knew they (bin Laden) had struck before in 1993 at the World Trade Center in the first bombing of the trade center."

One might think that might have been an important precursor to examine, yet history seems to suggest that Clinton retaliated by bombing Baghdad (where in the world is Abdul Yasin?). Perhaps this mystery could have been cleared up by questioning the Clinton Justice official sitting right there in the room?

As years pass the report looks more like a partisan puppet show designed to save political careers, at least from a public perception. Maybe that explains the book, but alleging that witnesses weren't forthright seems odd considering the commission makeup itself.

SOUND OFF 8/6/06

Although Usama has yet to sound off other luminaries aren't afraid to voice their opinion, which only confuses everyone. This Saudi cleric, who inspired bin Laden years ago, says Hizballah is the party of the devil and should not be supported.

Meanwhile Zawahiri was back on the air Saturday announcing that AQ has merged with an Egyptian terror group. It seems they're trying to drag Egyptians back into the fray in an effort to help Hamas destablize the Gaza strip area, but I could be wrong.