We do not negotiate with terrorists. Bad precedent.

I think we should have a peace conference with the Al Qaida. And when they show up, we kill all of them.

Osama? Osama?! You dirty bastard, what have you done with Annie! Negotiate?! Never!

The only negotiation involving bin Laden should be between the DOD and the White House. The issue on the table is JDAM or MOA? What to drop on Ossama's head.

Negotiate? Of course! Can you give me a ten digit grid for where and when you'd like to meet?

A quirk of Islam - along with it's sanction of violent proselyzation, stoning of adulteress, and hanging of homosexuals - is its sanction of lying to the kufr in order to gain military advantage. The Prophet Muhammad famously made a truce while he built up his forces, then broke the truce as soon as he was strong enough to attack. The story is famous in Islam. A comparable Christian story would be the miracle of the fishes and the loaves.

I first thought Osama was so contemptuous of the American left that he believed they would ignore history and jump at his truce(thus cutting into Halliburton's profits! Could you believe Osama mentioned "war profiteers!" -- "Osama, meet Kos, Atrios, and Howard Dean. Kos, Atrios, Howard, this is Osama."

On further reflection, I believe Osama was reflecting the desperation of his situation. He was simply runnning out of options. All he's got left is a few Hail Mary attempts, and a couple of nasty, finger-biting, ball-busting, eye-gouging fights in post-whistle pile-ups. This tape was a clear sign of weakness and breakdown.

Jake and Casca were thinking what I was thinking.

Kevin

Negotiation requires credibility on both sides, and terrorists have none.

Of course we should negotiate; let's see, lethal injection, gas chamber, electric chair, hanging, firing squad, drone hellfire missile, guillotine, seppuku.

C'mon over Osama, they're all on the table.

sure, why not.

Of course when they break their deal we can refer them to the UN security council.

Osama's tape accomplished two things. He established that he is still running Al Qaeda (and thus is still alive) and he set himself up as the good guy in the eyes of Arabs and mush-hearted liberals in Europe and the MSM. Now there's no question that Bush must be the agressor, since he refused peace.

What's really sad is that some people will actually buy that monkey hurlage.

In the eyes of W fans like myself, this is a pretty clear sign that Osama is running out of options and we are winning this war.

Still, I agree with Jake and Casca.

Let him negotiate with St Peter; we'll be happy to arrange the introduction...

We should definitely negotiate, under the following conditions:

Only one person from each side will come to the negotiations.

Al Qaida's person will be Osama.

Our person will be Ewan McGregor.

Ewan McGregor will have a lightsaber.

Then they can argue and Osama can hiss about how we're the Great Satan and then Ewan can yell, "only the Sith deal in absolutes!" and dump Osama into the pit of burning lava.

Oh yeah, the other condition is that the negotiations have to be someplace where there's plentiful burning lava nearby.

Those would be the Coolest. Negotiations. Ever.

Depends on the terms; complete surrender of the remaining top 4 tiers of Al Queda leadership? Hmmm, sounds like a good start. Sure, let's go with that...

Sure. I'd be willing to sing a truce (assuming I were President) if they gave us the name, age, physical description, photograph, address and fingerprints of every al Qaeda member, sympathizer and contributor. I'd then break the truce by killing as many of them as possible in simultaneous operations, and hunting down the rest one by one. Tactical nukes would not be out of the question for densely packed clusters. And I'd make it look like it was their fault!

Fuck. SiGN. SiGN a truce!

Trint, it's not just W fans that see it your way, as I'm not a big fan of W myself and I call total bullshit on Osama's offer of a truce.

He was a wanted man long before 9/11 and will continue to be until we finally get him. There's no reason for us to believe a goddamned word he has to say, and I find it highly arrogant of him to assert that he has any control over the situation in Iraq. He is pure scum, and the only way I can see us doing any kind of "negotiating," would be if the end result is Osama's head on a platter.

Xactly Amy, and that's why I'd do like the main badguy in pulp fiction, and have a couple bruthas get medieval on his ass with a blowtorch and a pair of pliars.

Yes, we must sign a truce at a neutral meeting place. Perhaps, a nice little hostel in Slovakia that I know of.....

I'll bring the cordless drill.

Joseph Conrad put it best in "Heart Of Darkness": 'exterminate the brutes!'

What would one negotiate? "Okay, Osama, then we're agreed: from now on, you'll kill only half as many people as you'd normally kill. . . ." ????