Osama tries harder

It looks as though the effort by Al Qaeda in Iraq to foment civil war between the Sunnis and Shias has been given a new twist. According to the BBC:

Last Updated: Sunday, 2 July 2006, 01:51 GMT 02:51 UK

'Bin Laden' warning to Iraq Shias

Osama Bin Laden, the fugitive leader of al-Qaeda, has apparently warned Iraqi Shias not to attack Sunnis, saying they could face retaliation.

In an internet audio message to militants in Somalia and Iraq, he calls Shia leaders traitors and renegades.

Zarqawi is dead, but the strategy of Al Qaeda seems to be the same: use religious differences to disrupt the effort to build a republic.

It looks as though Iraq may remain a front in the war against Islamic terrorists for quite a while, but the Shias in Iraq must be carrying a lot more of the load for Osama to complain like this.