In a year-end audiotape Osama bin Laden reportedly scolds Iraq’s Sunnis for turning on al Qaeda, and threatens to ramp up violence in the Palestinian territories. The world’s most wanted man also calls on Muslims to stand by a phantom:

Bin Laden said Sunnis should pledge their allegiance to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the little known “emir” or leader of the Islamic State of Iraq. U.S. officials have claimed that al-Baghdadi does not exist, saying Al Qaeda created the name to give its coalition the illusion of an Iraqi leadership.

It wasn’t long ago that the coming of the new year spelled elevated threat levels from Homeland Security and genuine fear in the hearts of Americans. Now, after six years of having the fight brought to them, all al Qaeda can muster is a tape-recorded finger wag. The fact is that the big story about Times Square this New Year’s eve was portable toilets, not bomb-detectors.

None of which is to say that victory over al Qaeda is complete. The gains made by the U.S. in the fight against Islamofascism are fragile. American troops have paid an enormous price for putting al Qaeda on the run, but as we saw in Pakistan last week, it takes just one thug to derail progress. Fortunately, momentum in Iraq and the increasing Muslim condemnation of suicide bombing make it clear that bin Laden is a thug whose influence is waning. His suspicious “help wanted” ads reek of desperation.
As for Israel, it should no longer be a secret that Palestinian terror is rank bin Ladenism decked out in nationalist threads. Whether or not Osama’s boilerplate threats portend coming attacks, Gaza’s increasing operational capabilities (courtesy of Syria and Iran) have raised the stakes. In 2008 every resource must be marshaled to stomp out Hamas in much the same way that the U.S. has marginalized al Qaeda over the past six years.