Osama's Message

Marc Lynch reacts to the new Osama bin Laden tape. Apparently, the Arab media is focusing on bin Laden's remarks on Israel and Palestine:

A lot of ink has been spilled since 9/11 trying to argue that bin Laden doesn't really care about Palestine. But that's always been silly -- nobody knows what he "really" cares about, and it doesn't especially matter since he talks about it a lot and presents it as a major part of his case against the United States. An Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement surely would not convince bin Laden or al-Qaeda and its affiliated movements to give up their jihad --- but it would take away one of their most potent arguments, and one of the few that actually resonates with mass publics.

James Joyner finds it odd that bin Laden is celebrating failed attacks. Meanwhile, Netanyahu continues to tell Obama to go Cheney himself.