The Call for Hudna

As many LGF'ers have noted, someone purporting to be Osama bin Laden has sent a speech to their willing accomplices at al Jazeera calling for a truce and warning of mass casualty attacks against the US if it doesn't comply.

As I noted,

Curious that the speaker offers a truce. He's asking for a truce out of a position of weakness, not strength given the way his terrorist minions have been whacked and captured throughout Iraq, Europe, and Afghanistan.

It's interesting that the speaker's claims credit that there haven't been any attacks because they need prep time. This much is true. While it does take time to prepare mass casualty attacks, but not nearly as much as we've seen based on the London or Madrid bombings. This could be an idle threat or it's a not so thinly veiled threat of another mass casualty attack on the scale of 9/11.

What the speaker is calling for is a hudna, a strategic and tactical period so that he can regroup and rearm in light of the serious damaged done to his minions by coalition forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, and around the world. He needs time to regroup and rearm, and now is not the time to let up our efforts.

It's time to redouble them to root out terror cells in those regions.

UPDATE:
Does this debunk the rumors of Osama's death? Possibly, but the tape is in poor condition, and we haven't heard the whole thing.

Others blogging the latest tape: Michelle Malkin (as usual) and AJ Strata wonders whether Osama is calling it quits - he isn't.

UPDATE: Confederate Yankee, Howie and Dr. Shackleford at the Jawa Report are also on the purported OBL tape. Not only do they question the timing, but the motive and fact challenged agitprop nature of the message.

UPDATE:
The New York Times, CNN and other sources are running similar stories that the CIA has confirmed that the recording appears to be Osama:

CIA intelligence officials who analyzed the recording, which was aired on Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera Thursday, believe the voice on the poor-quality audiotape is that of bin Laden.

However, no one is speculating on when the tape was made. From the NYT:

The American counterterrorism official said that Mr. Bin Laden's offer of a truce echoed previous similar offers, as did his warning that preparations for a new attack on American targets were under way. But the official said the United States government was taking those warnings seriously.

A second American counterterrorism official echoed that thought, saying "You don't ignore threats from Osama Bin Laden."

The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been authorized to speak on the record.

The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said today that the tape showed that Al Qaeda was "on the run."

UPDATE:
Posted to bRight and Early and Basil's Blog [updated regularly] and Jo's Cafe

UPDATE:
Some folks question the timing of Osama's press release, but not for the reasons you or I do. Oh, and I'm referring to Jack Cafferty, who used to be a well respected newscaster in NYC at Channel 4 news, but now engages in flights of fancy from the newsdesk. Meanwhile, Chris Matthews engages in a bit of exaggeration. Mike Silverman offers Osama the terms for a truce.

UPDATE:
Don Surber notes that Osama's latest statement is yet more proof of the need for NSA eavesdropping.

UPDATE:
Howie at the Jawa Report notes the similarities between Osama's statements and those of certain prominent groups and individuals. It isn't pretty.