Signs of Victory

Increasingly there are positive signs in the anti-jihad struggle.

First, we have a rift among the terrorists in Iraq:

The influential Sunni Muslim Scholars Association urged their large community to boycott the "illegal" polls in January.

Nearly one year on, the group has so far been officially neutral but some of its members have called participation in the polls a "religious duty".
...
Saddam loyalists have turned against Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant whose fighters travel to Iraq from across the Arab world to blow themselves up in a bid to spark sectarian civil war.

"Zarqawi is an American, Israeli and Iranian agent who is trying to keep our country unstable so that the Sunnis will keep facing occupation," said a Baathist insurgent leader who would give his name only as Abu Abdullah.

Whatever, Abu, if that excuse helps you sleep at night. Works for me.

Second, while Osama remains conspicuously silent (hmmm, wonder why...), Zawahiri has come out with some complaints:

CAIRO, Egypt - In a tape that surfaced Sunday, Osama bin Laden's deputy urged all Muslims to take up arms, saying a refusal to join the fight against "the Cross and Zionism" was a "malignant illness" that would lead to the defeat of militant Islam.

Complaining about conditions for defeat that clearly already exist is a position of weakness.

"As long as this malignant illness continues to survive within us, there is no hope for victory and there can only be more defeats, tragedies, disasters and betrayals," al-Zawahri said.

Aw, been getting defeats, tragedies, disasters, and betrayals?

(I don't know why, but they've recently changed the spelling of his name in news reports, dropping one of the "i"s.)

After spinning a fantasy about Mullah Omar controlling much of Afghanistan, he then rants about the Saudis, who might actually be doing something useful for once:

Al-Zawahri also criticized the lack of support for al-Qaida-linked militants in Saudi Arabia, saying the mujahedeen had suffered "defeat" in Saudi authorities' high-profile campaign against militants.

"These idolatrous regimes achieve victory over us because each one of us wants to save his own skin and avoid harm for himself," al-Zawahri said on the tape.

This is all excellent news.