Usama bin Laden’s latest audio tape threatening retaliation for U.S. support of the crackdown on militants in Pakistan seemed to throw cold water on the idea that Al Qaeda and the Taliban could be going their separate ways.

One of the overlooked aspects of Dick Cheney’s speech today was his extensive linking of 9/11 to weapons of mass destruction (including nuclear weapons), Saddam Hussein, and Iraq. That Cheney would once again lie about Iraq is no big surprise, but the fact that he told those lies once again during today’s speech should raise even more questions about the veracity of his torture defense.

President Obama won’t put an “artificial deadline” on Iran’s abandoning its nuclear weapons program but said Monday that the Islamic Republic’s obtaining a nuclear weapon would be not only a threat to Israel and the U.S. but would be “profoundly destabilizing” to the rest of the world.