New From Bin Laden

Looks like Bin Laden has released another tape.

I honestly don't know what to say. He's offering a truce. I usually don't read the transcripts for these things because I'd rather not give them the time of day, so I don't know if this is his usual style.

But I read this one, and it surprised me to see how charismatic and obviously intelligent this guy is. I don't know why it surprised me. Most leaders are that way, bad guy or good guy.

The reason why I say that I don't know if this is his usual style is that I don't know if his offering of a truce is something new. If it is, I think that we can take it as a good sign. Previously, and please correct me if I'm wrong, there was no bending room with this guy. He wanted us dead. I'm not saying that we should negotiate with a terrorist, but if he's showing that he's willing to work with us for the first time, that means that he may have some doubts about his own abilities. In other words, he's starting to squirm.

The only thing that really disturbs me is our leadership's reaction, and I'm referring to this article from the AP. This is the quote that concerned me:

U.S. counterterror officials said Thursday they have seen no specific or credible intelligence to indicate an upcoming al-Qaida attack on the country.

And then there is this:

While warning against downplaying the taped threat, officials at intelligence and law enforcement agencies said there has been no recent increase in "chatter" that can indicate that such an attack is imminent.

That doesn't sound good. Isn't this administration supposed to be more effective in keeping us safe? Weren't we told that the whole purpose behind the wiretapping scandal was so that they could know when an attack was being planned? Wasn't there another subtle hint that was ignored before the attacks on September 11? Why are we downplaying this?