This morning the Washington Times ran an AP story under the headline "Cosby slams young black' behavior". The pictures accompanying the news story in the print edition are of a stern lecturing Cosby and another picture of a sad Jesse Jackson studying a tissue. It certainly gives the impression that Bill Cosby made Jesse Jackson cry.

In fact, Cosby reiterated the arguments he made in May at a commemoration of the anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education desegregation decision before a conference sponsored by Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. In May Cosby criticized the African-American community for not promoting education - in particular lampooning the poor grammar prevalent in some segments of the African-American community. Yesterday Cosby made similar remarks before Jackson's group - and Jackson was supportive and defended Cosby. (Still the pictures were so satisfying.)

It is interesting to speculate what Jackson (who shakes down corporations by threatening to call them racists) thought when Cosby said, "...we have to turn the mirror around... it is almost analgesic to talk about what the white man is doing against us. And it keeps a person frozen in their seat..."

That the enormously talented Bill Cosby is starting a new career as a voice of reason and progress to African-Americans is great news. Clearly he overcame any obstacles race threw in his path to become a nationally beloved figure - in times when racial barriers were far, far higher than today.

On a personal note: years ago I tried my hand at stand-up comedy - with modest success. I never made any money, but I could usually make an audience laugh a little. I remember listening to tapes of Cosby routines - simply fantastic, a consummate professional and a real genius. Timing, writing, presence - he had it all.

Former CNN producer Peter Bergen, who conducted the first TV interview with Osama Bin Laden in the late 1990s, wrote an op-ed earlier this week for The New York Times arguing that Zarqawi is not really much of a link between Saddam and al-Qaeda.

I used Bergen's book Holy War, Inc. for my own book. He is a good writer and reporter. But I am not inclined to be charitable - I saw him speak at an AEI Forum for a book by Stephen Hayes The Connection: How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America. Bergen referred to Saddam as running a hospice for aging Palestinian terrorists like Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas. A cute line, certainly - but a touch glib for my taste. It is unclear what Abu Nidal was up to in his last years (lack of information does not mean a lack of activity.) But Abu Abbas and his Palestine Liberation Front were playing an active role transferring money to the families of suicide bombers in the West Bank and Gaza. They had even established active cells and carried out a few operations. That's terrorism - period.

Bergen says Zarqawi's connections with al-Qaeda are minimal and that his connections with Saddam were minimal. He operated in Iraq when Saddam was in power - it seems incredibly unlikely that Saddam was unaware of his presence. Much of that time he was in Kurdish Iraq were Saddam had limited control but he also appears to have received medical treatment in Baghdad.

The al-Qaeda question too, isn't a simple yes or no. Zarqawi's al-Tawhid organization is linked to Abu Qatada a London-based imam (who is currently in British prison) and who was considered Bin Laden's personal emissary in Europe.

Deception is a standard tool of terrorist organizations. The PLO long denied any affiliation with Black September back in the 1970s. Terrorist groups, and particularly their sponsors, have a tremendous interest in keeping a certain degree of ambiguity about their activities. This goes doubly so for a decentralized group like al-Qaeda in which cells and sub-networks are encouraged to operate independently and communication channels are frequently lateral not simply top down.

The search for a specific "smoking gun" is going to be very difficult. We can follow any strand and find it splits a hundred ways. Better to cut the Gordian Knot and take the fight to them.

It isn't a single big story - but a plethora of medium-sized ones. Iran has more tentacles than Dr. Octopus.

First, AP reports that Hezbollah is active in the West African diamond trade. If al-Qaeda is the Babe Ruth of terrorism, Hezbollah is the Lou Gehrig - consistent, reliable, and focused. They have committed murderous terror throughout the Middle East and Europe and also in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They tried to attack Israeli and US targets in the Far East and they have a fundraising network in North America. Now add Africa to the list. I don't know about Australia, and they probably won't target the penguins in Antarctica until they've finished converting the human world to an Islamic Republic.

There is a large Lebanese Shia community in West Africa (Amal leader Nabih Berri was born there) that is active in the diamond trade. Hezbollah apparently shakes them down for a piece of the action. This network may parallel Hezbollah's network in the Tri-Border region of South America. But in terrorist organizations there are no firewalls between fundraising and operational arms and lawless, disorganized Africa is a playground for terrorists. If targets present themselves in Africa or if Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors wish to acquire influence in the region they now have the assets to do so. With a virtual civil war between Islamists and Christians in Nigeria this is not a hypothetical question.

Story two is that Iranian forces apparently forced six British Royal Marines and two sailors patrolling the Iran-Iraq border in the Shatt al-Arab waterway to cross the border. The Brits were then taken hostage, displayed on Iranian satellite TV blindfolded, and forced to read an "apology" for accidentally entering Iranian territory. They have been returned, but their boats have not. Equipment on the boats would show whether or not the British unit actually crossed the border. Perhaps the Iranians learned something from the Chinese and the April 1, 2001 collision between a Chinese fighter and a US EP-3.

So what is Iran up to? In NRO Michael Ledeen argues that the Brits were laying sensors on the Iraqi side of the waterway to monitor Iranian movements. It was also a way to send a message to the Brits. Britain has been terrific standing with the US in Iraq, but lousy on Iran - where they have linked with France and Germany in seeking a diplomatic path to preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power. Iran has a history of using hostage-taking to send political messages, most notably in 1979 when Iranian revolutionaries held US diplomats for 444 days and in the late 1980s when Iran and Hezbollah took Westerners in Lebanon hostage to force governments to reduce support for Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war. Finally, it could simply have been a distraction intended to divert attention from Iran's continued non-compliance with its obligations to fully disclose its nuclear program. Knowing the duplicity and talent of Iran's leadership it is probably all of the above and several other angles this author would never have imagined.

But wait, there's more. A pair of Iranian guards at the UN were expelled for filming and photographing NYC landmarks and parts of the transportation system. The Iranians said it was tourism, US law enforcement thought not. Here too, Iran has a long history of using its Embassies as bases for terrorism - notably in Paris in 1986 and in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994. There have also been reports of Iranians scouting out oil facilities in Texas - and quite frankly we don't know the depth of Hezbollah's network in the US. Iran is no doubt playing its cards close to its chest and keeping open some options to hit the US directly.

Finally, the big story isn't really news at all. The 9/11 Commission in Staff Statement 15 stated that there was "far greater potential for collaboration between Hezbollah and al-Qaeda than many had previously thought. A few years before the [1996 Khobar] attack, Bin Laden's representatives and Iranian officials had discussed putting aside Shia-Sunni divisions to cooperate against the common enemy. A small group of al-Qaeda operatives subsequently traveled to Iran and Hezbollah camps in Lebanon for training in explosives, intelligence, and security. Bin Laden reportedly showed particular interest in Hezbollah's truck bombing tactics in Lebanon in 1983 that killed 241 U.S. Marines."

In the ADD prone American public discourse this may pass for news. But in fact, many terrorism experts have long cited deep Iranian-al-Qaeda ties. Most notably, Rohan Gunaratna in his Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror described Hezbollah and Iran as having a "strategic partnership" with al-Qaeda. They tutored al-Qaeda in bombing large building, agent-handling, and surveillance. Hezbollah specialized in the simultaneous attacks that have become al-Qaeda's modus operandi. Gunaratna writes, "Although the US was privy to Hezbollah-Al Qaeda cooperation as far back as late 1998, it did not take decisive steps to criminalise the Hezbollah leadership, even though the group had killed and kidnapped many Americans. This was interpreted by Hezbollah as a sign of weakness, prompting it and Al Qaeda to think they could attack the USA with impunity."

There you have it. The Iranian regime has been at war with the United States since it took power in 1979. The Iranians are not known, so far, to have planned 9/11, but they have readily cooperated with forces throughout the region and the world that also despise the United States. 9/11 is only one the deadly dividends of this policy. The US has a quarter-century of unfinished business with the Islamists of Iran, and our neglect has only bred further violence. The bill is rapidly coming due as the Iranian regime makes rapid progress towards acquiring a nuclear weapon. We had best pay this bill soon, before the price becomes exorbitant.