Just in time

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Suddenly, the faces and voices of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are everywhere, in a stream of video and audio messages broadcast to the world.

In the past month alone, six new tapes from the two have reached an international audience. Excerpts of Zawahri's latest message were broadcast on Al Jazeera television on Thursday, a day before the first anniversary of the London bombings.

But U.S. officials and terrorism experts are wary of concluding that the spate of messages means another major attack is imminent.

I'm not wary of predicting that a US election is due in November, and that the pace of bin Laden messages will increase, perhaps with one shortly before election day that appears to endorse Democrats. Audio tapes are more convenient, because then you don't have to show a fat, right-handed Osama.