Al-Jazeera has broadcast a new audio tape attributed to Osama bin Laden. On the tape the speaker called for Iraqis to boycott the election next month, and called the interim government an “apostate government.”

The speaker said al-Zarqawi and those with him are fighting “for God’s sake.”

“We have been pleased that they responded to God’s and his prophet’s order for unity, and we in al-Qaida welcome their unity with us,” the speaker said.

The speaker also said he was “pleased” with al-Zarqawi’s “gallant operations” against the Americans and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s “apostate government.”

Iraqis are scheduled to elect a 275-member National Assembly on Jan. 30, and those lawmakers will draft a new constitution. There have been calls to postpone the election because of the ongoing insurgency, but President Bush has insisted the vote be held as scheduled.

The speaker condemned those elections.

“In the balance of Islam, this constitution is infidel and therefore everyone who participates in this election will be considered infidels,” he said. “Beware of henchmen who speak in the name of Islamic parties and groups who urge people to participate in this blatant apostasy.”

He apparently was referring to Shiite clerics, particularly Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who have issued edicts saying participating in the election was a “religious duty.”

UPDATE: Apparently, the voice on the tape does belong to bin Laden.

Yesterday, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck just off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra generating several tsunamis. So far the death toll is an estimated 23,700 lives and is expected to rise. Deaths have been reported in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Somalia.

This will probably prove to be the costliest natural disaster in history, both in the human toll and in monetary terms. However, much of the human tragedy might have been preventable.

More information on the earthquake which generated the tsunamis is available from the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS’s earthquake website provides information on earthquakes throughout the world.

UPDATE: The Command Post has a compilation of first person accounts of the tragedy, as well as updated death tolls by country. The Moderate Voice also has links to other first person accounts and a link to video of the tsunami washing ashore. (From Diggers Realm)

UPDATE II: Updates on the devastation from the earthquake and tsunami.

Yushchenko’s victory seems to be official.

Reformer Viktor Yushchenko, whose victory in Ukraine’s presidential election was all but assured Monday despite his opponent’s threat to appeal the outcome, is expected to move quickly to bolster ties with the West while trying to ease tensions with Russia.

However, his opponent, taking a page from the Democratic Party playbook, has refused to concede and has indicated that he will contest the result in court.

Yanukovych refused to concede defeat, telling reporters he would go to the Supreme Court to challenge the results once the election commission released its final tally.

Later, however, he said he had lost respect for the court over its ruling that annulled the results of the earlier election, which Yushchenko’s camp, international observers and even members of the Central Electoral Commission assailed as fraudulent.

“It breached the constitution and the law,” Yanukovych said of the court. “Today, I can’t have faith in such a chamber.”

Even if, as seems likely, the result withstands a court challenge, or Yanukovych comes to his senses and concedes, Yushchenko has a difficult road ahead to westernize his nation, while at the same time not alienating Russia. Also, troublesome will be uniting the Ukrainian and Russian speaking halves of Ukraine, in addition to dealing with the corruption which marked the outgoing government.

Foreign leaders have also been quick to congratulate Yushchenko.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, whose own accession to power on a wave of peaceful protest in November 2003 inspired Ukraine’s opposition, congratulated Yushchenko in a Ukrainian-language message delivered over Ukrainian television.

Saakashvili, who attended law school in then-Soviet Ukraine, apparently was the first foreign leader to publicly recognize Yushchenko’s victory.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski congratulated Yushchenko on Monday, describing his victory as a “good and important choice” for Ukraine’s relations with Europe, Kwasniewski’s office said.

Poland’s former president, Lech Walesa, told the Polish news agency PAP that Yushchenko’s victory meant “Ukraine on its road to freedom and democracy made a small move toward Europe.”

Captain Ed also observes that this election, while the result is favorable to the West, may have other unpleasant consequences for the West. While the result may encourage other former Soviet Republics to break free of the Kremlin’s influence, it may also make Putin desperate to maintain that influence.

Viktor Yushchenko has claimed victory in Ukraine’s highly contested presidential election. The election seems to have been conducted with little of the rampant fraud and voter intimidation which marked the previous two elections.

Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declared victory Monday in Ukraine’s fiercely contested presidential election, telling thousands of supporters they had taken their country to a new political era after a bitterly fought campaign that required an unprecedented three ballots and Supreme Court intervention against fraud.

“We have been independent for 14 years but we were not free,” Yushchenko told the festive crowd in Kiev’s central Independence Square, the center of weeks of protests after the fraudulent and now-annulled Nov. 21 ballot in which Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had been declared the winner.

“Now we can say this is a thing of the past. Now we are facing an independent and free Ukraine.”

Yushchenko spoke after three exit polls and partial results projected him winning easily in Sunday’s Supreme Court-ordered rematch.

“Now, today, the Ukrainian people have won. I congratulate you,” he said.

As Yushchenko declared victory, about 5,000 supporters gathered on the square applauded and set off fireworks. They waved flags of bright orange - his campaign’s emblematic color - clasped hands and danced.

More on the election from Rueters. And the insider’s view of the election and Ukraine is available from Le Sabot Post-Moderne.

Good news and bad news in the NFL today.

The good news (unless you are Dan Marino): Peyton Manning threw two touchdown passes in a come from behind overtime victory against San Diego, to break Dan Marino’s record of 48 touchdown passes in a single season.

Peyton Manning wanted the win more than the record. He got both. Manning rallied his Indianapolis Colts from a 15-point deficit in the final quarter, throwing his record-breaking 49th touchdown of the season to help tie the game in the last minute of regulation, and then led the winning drive in overtime as the Colts defeated San Diego 34-31 Sunday.

And the bad news: Reggie White, former University of Tennessee and NFL defensive lineman, died today at age 43.

A two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and ordained minister who was known as the “Minister of Defense,” White played a total of 15 years with Philadelphia, Green Bay and Carolina. He retired after the 2000 season as the NFL’s all-time leader in sacks with 198. The mark has since been passed by Bruce Smith.

“Reggie White was a gentle warrior who will be remembered as one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history,” NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said. “Equally as impressive as his achievements on the field was the positive impact he made off the field and the way he served as a positive influence on so many young people.”

A member of the NFL’s 75th anniversary team, White was elected to the Pro Bowl a record 13 straight times from 1986-98. He was the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1987 and 1998.

“A 43-year-old is not supposed to die in his sleep,” Johnson said. “It was not only unexpected, but it was also a complete surprise. Reggie wasn’t a sick man … he was vibrant. He had lots and lots of energy, lots of passion.”

James Q. Wilson points out a very good reason to leave well enough alone.

This fact worries many people in the Blue States just as it pleases many in the Red ones. Those who are alarmed by the extent of religious belief in this country have roused themselves to make the so-called wall of separation between church and state both higher and firmer. In insisting that we describe our late December holiday as having nothing to do with the birth of Jesus, in fighting to keep every nativity scene away from any government property, by arguing that our freedoms will be compromised by any reference to Christianity, they have succeeded only in intensifying religious beliefs among the great majority of our people who are angered by these assaults.

They would be well advised to let matters alone. We have been a free country even though “In God We Trust” is printed on our dollar bills, even though sessions of Congress begin with a prayer, and even though chaplains paid for by our tax dollars are part of our military forces. Our freedom does not depend on eliminating these acknowledgments of the power of religion; it relies instead on the fact that for many generations we have embraced a secular government operating in a religious culture.

That embrace will be weakened, not strengthened, by silly attacks on religiosity, stimulating the spiritual to question the seriousness of people who profess a concern for civil liberties.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-5,10-14

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

Isaiah 9:6&7

Before you put out the milk and cookies for Santa this evening, you may want to download a copy of the Christmas Cookie Liability and Indemnification Agreement first. (From Michelle Malkin)

Also, I think Cox & Forkum have a lead on Michael Moore’s next project.

Blogging will be light tomorrow. I’ll be at my in-laws most of the day without any connection to the internet.

Have a Merry Christmas.

(Linked to the Outside the Beltway: Holiday Traffic Jam)

FedEx has decided to cover the cost of shipping to Iraq and Afghanistan for Operation Give. Way to go FedEx!

(From Dean’s World)

Victor Davis Hanson takes on Rumsfeld’s critics.

The answer, of course, is the usual media-inspired flight from reason that overwhelms this country at various times hype playing on our fears and groupthink to create a sudden story when there really is none. And now with the renewed attack on Donald Rumsfeld we are back to more of the flu-shot hysteria that has been so common in this war. Remember the pseudo-crises of the past four years– the quagmire in week three in Afghanistan or the sandstorm bog-down in Iraq?

Let us not forget either all the Orwellian logic: Clinton’s past deleterious military slashes that nevertheless explained the present win in Afghanistan, or his former appeasement of bin Laden that now accounts for the successful doctrine of fighting terror. Or recall the harebrained schemes we should have adopted– the uninvited automatic airlifting of an entire division into the high peaks of Islamic, nuclear Pakistan to cut off the tribal fugitives from Tora Bora? Or have we put out of our memories the brilliant trial balloons of a Taliban coalition government and the all Islamic post-Taliban occupation forces?

So it is with the latest feeding-frenzy over Donald Rumsfeld. His recent spur-of-the-moment – but historically plausible – remarks to the effect that one goes to war with the army one has rather than the army one wishes for angered even conservatives. The demands for his head are to be laughed off from an unserious Maureen Dowd – ranting on spec about the shadowy neocon triad of Wolfowitz, Feith, and Perle – but taken seriously from a livid Bill Kristol or Trent Lott. Rumsfeld is, of course, a blunt and proud man, and thus can say things off the cuff that in studied retrospect seem strikingly callous rather than forthright. No doubt he has chewed out officers who deserved better. And perhaps his quip to the scripted, not-so-impromptu question was not his best moment.

But his resignation would be a grave mistake for this country at war, for a variety of reasons.