Following up on this earlier opinion, Christopher Hitchens sees some desperation inside al-Qaida:
The conditions for this latest truce are of course impossible... All one needs, in order to earn Bin Laden's mercy, is to give up Afghanistan and Iraq. But this raises a more intriguing question. Why are formerly triumphalist jihadists using the language of "truce" at all?Read the rest. And here's more on hostility to al-Qaida within the insurgency in Iraq:
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Wherever Bin Laden is now, it cannot be where he wanted or hoped to be four and a half years ago.
Iraqi newspapers quoted a statement from six armed groups on Monday announcing they had united to form the "People's Cell" to confront al-Qa'ida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and preserve security in the Anbar province.The statement condemned "armed operations which target innocents" and affirmed "a halt to co-operation with al-Qa'ida".