It may be the most famous one-word sentence in American military history, and it’s time to dust it off after yesterday’s pronouncement from Osama bin Laden: “Nuts!” That’s how Brigadier Gen. Anthony McAuliffe responded to the Nazis when asked to surrender the town of Bastogne on December 19, 1944. Outnumbered and surrounded by Panzer tanks, McAuliffe gave his one word response to a courier. When asked what it meant, Col. James Harper replied, “In plain English it means go to hell.”

That surely will be President Bush’s response to the latest ramblings al-Jazeera broadcast yesterday purported to be from Al Qaeda’s leader, Osama bin Laden, in hiding. He says, “We don’t mind offering you a long-term truce on fair conditions that we adhere to. We are a nation that God has forbidden to lie and cheat. So both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed in this war.”

Whether or not bin Laden’s so-called nation is “forbidden to lie and cheat,” it is apparently not forbidden to kill 3,000 innocent Americans. It’s bizarre to hear him, or whoever is speaking in his name, blame the obliteration of Iraq and Afghanistan’s infrastructure on “the war.” It has been his gang’s strategy since the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq to target not only Afghans and Iraqis, but power plants, police stations, and aid workers.

The cave dwelling terrorist’s commentary on American politics could have been written by Howard Dean. He notes President Bush’s declining poll numbers and takes solace because it proves “an overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.” That’ll go down just great with the Democrats who have called for timelines and withdrawal while arguing there is no connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda. It certainly seems that Mr. bin Laden doesn’t buy the notion that one can support winning the war and immediate withdrawal from Iraq at the same time.

It would be nice to think that this would present an opportunity for the antiwar crowd to reconsider its approach. For it is clear that Al Qaeda has underestimated not only the president but also the American people. Far from bin Laden’s boasts that his holy warriors are succeeding, his offer of truce is an act of desperation. After all the terror Al Qaeda has sought to inflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has been unable to prevent successive and successful elections and the writing of constitutions. When the Nazis offered McAuliffe an honorable surrender at Bastogne, America had been at war a long time and everyone was tired. The end of the Third Reich was still six months away. McAuliffe knew what to say. Today there is near Bastogne a “Nuts” museum to honor his spirit. Too bad Mr. Bin Laden didn’t stop by and learn something.