Meanwhile, in Crawford, Texas, President Bush has finished his 320th day of vacation since being elected president. He did come out of his compound to address reporters during a visit by Colombian President and Bush ally Uribe.

• President Bush,”The comments by the number two man of al Qaeda make it clear that Iraq is a part of this war on terror. And we’re at war. In other words, he’s saying, you know, 'Leave.' As I have told the American people, one, people like Zawahiri have an ideology that is dark, dim, backwards. They don’t trust, they don’t appreciate women. If you don’t agree to their narrow view of a religion, you’ll be whipped in the public square. That’s their view. And they have tactics to help spread that view. In other words, they’ve got goals. They want to spread that point of view throughout the world, starting in the broader Middle East. And part of their goal is to drive us out of the broader Middle East: precisely what this Zawahiri said. He’s threatening.”