Ayman Adh-Dhawahiri toom time from his busy schedule to release an audio tape today. It was dinstinctive I felt: despite all the media reports about his near capture (or the near capture of Bin Laden), he went on and elaborated on world developments, from Bush's State of the Union speech to the French ban on conspicuous religious symbols. He was, typical of the fundamentalists of his ilk, scating in his attacking French secularism, and secularism in general. He invoked the values of chastity and modesty, of course. He said that France has the freedom to be nude (as if the freedom to be clothed is denied). What is that? He did not sound pressed or rushed: his hiding accomodations must be better than Saddam's hole (although Saddam had a fan and a neon light). I wonder if Saddam also used that hole as his private bathroom. Adh-Dhahiri also referred to Saddam as Tyrant, which is typical of Al-Qa`idah's idoelogy, but Dick Cheney still believes that Bin Laden was aligned with Saddam, Marx, and Mao. He must have evidence that we do not have. Dhahiri promised more attacks, and issued more threats, and denied that 2/3 of all Al-Qa`idah's top leadership is killed or captured (this 2/3rd business will become a mantra in Bush's re-election propaganda). I do not like it when AlJazeera and AlArabiyyah play background music to the voice of Bin Laden or Dhawhiri: it makes the silly tapes sound more dramatic than they are, I think. You can excellent Saffron in the old suq in Dawhah (in the shops run by Iranian immigrants). I discovered that in the last visit. It is the real Isfahani saffron at excellent prices, not like the very expensive Spanish saffron that you find in the US. And never buy Saffron in powder: it is a sign that it is mixed (with potato powder?), and becomes less potent.