Osama bin Laden has dropped a line to Iraqi kingpin Abu Musab al-Zarqawi:

“There has been communication between bin Laden and Zarqawi, with bin Laden suggesting to Zarqawi the U.S. homeland as a target,” said the [U.S. counterterrorism] official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

These cats educe pathos. Zarqawi is being chased around Iraq, where he is deadly, to be sure, but painfully counterproductive. He seems to be uniting disparate groups against him and for a single, functioning Iraq.