The Trifecta

First there was Osama's tape, which included a call to open a new jihadi front in Sudan's Darfur. Then Zarqawi. Now, we have Zawahiri spewing the same kind of stuff. The US military is broken in Iraq and that al Qaeda has succeeded. Yada yada yada. Though, his call for the Pakistani military to overthrow Musharaf is interesting.

From the sound of it, it's as though Zawahiri was simply perusing the New York Times editorials and cherry picked the stuff that sounded really really bad for the US despite the fact that none of what he's saying is true. Gateway Pundit thinks that Zawahiri got a hold of Rep. John Murtha's talking points.

Secular Blasphemy notes the disconnect between the propaganda and the reality. The NY Sun reports on a local al Qaeda leader in Iraq eliminated in a raid, one of many conducted in the past few weeks by Task Force 145. AJ Strata has the details, which notes the group is hunting down Zarqawi and inflicting significant pain on Zarqawi's cohorts. In a series of gunbattles between Task Force 145 and Zarqawi's goons in and around Yusufiyah, which is near Baghdad, Zarqawi has lost every encounter, and the noose is tightening.

The Counterterrorism blog notes that while al Qaeda is struggling to fight on the battlefield, it's ability to release tapes appears to be growing - which may be its only ability to sustain itself:

Al Qaeda, both in bin Laden and Zarqawi, seem to be focusing a great deal of time and resources on staying visible and talking to their followers or potential followers.

So what exactly are we to take away from this latest bit of propaganda from al Qaeda? Well, they think that their war is going splendidly, which fits the warped reality of those on the hard left and warms the hearts of anti-Americans everywhere. The reality is that al Qaeda's getting splattered all over Iraq, and far from breaking the US military, the conflict is bringing about incremental and revolutionary changes in how the military operates, disseminates lessons learned in combat and rolls out new technologies that improve the US soldier's ability to kill the enemy in urban combat situations.

UPDATE:
I noticed this posting on AJ Strata's site that would tend to reinforce my perception of Zawahiri's comments relating to Pakistan. Zawahiri's trying to relieve the pressure on al Qaeda in Pakistan by calling on a redoubling of efforts to assassinate and eliminate Musharaf - along with undermining the Pakistani military's efforts against al Qaeda. Musharaf has been claiming great success in sweeping through the border regions and eliminating terror strongholds.