Zawahiri, talking like that, is very likely to wake a sleeping giant and find himself in smithereens because he puffed himself up prematurely.

The United States has not yet declared war on Al Qeda, or really mobilized in a flat-out national effort. So far it's been a clique operation, with a half-assed "war on terror" managed by indifferent skills in many ways.

But if he goes too far, and invokes the national spirit of war with his posturing, and the gloves come off the way they did when the whole country rolled out a war effort in WW I and WW II, he is likely to end up wishing he had been more discreet, methinks.

I hope he comes to his senses before that happens.


A