GREG DJEREJIAN: ” I did want to emerge very briefly to say, when I hear the word ‘truce’ emit from UBL’s lips (or, perhaps, whatever impersonator is doing a stand-in on his behalf), I conclude that we are winning the battle against al-Qaeda. . . . So I guess I disagree somewhat with Muhammad Salah, Cairo bureau chief for the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat, who says to the NYT: ‘The fact that he was able to record the message, deliver it and broadcast is in itself a victory for him.’ Well, yeah, maybe. But that’s really defining victory down quite a damn lot, isn’t it?” He’s properly non-triumphalist here, and you should read the whole thing, but I think that’s right.

UPDATE: Related thoughts here.