Eli Lake at the Sun sums up what we know about the Al Qaeda connection to Bhutto’s killing: so far, only an Italian news agency is reporting having heard from Al Qaeda spokesmen confirming the outrage.

Lake considers that the killer may have had ties with ISI, but concludes that:

If Bhutto’s killer was also a member of Pakistan’s military or security services, it does not rule out an affiliation with Al Qaeda or another jihadist outfit.

Fine, fine, some members of ISI probably share kooky dreams of global domination via a resurrected caliphate with other damaged malcontents who call themselves Al Qaeda. If Lake was being more honest, though, the proper way to identify these people would be as ISI first, not Al Qaeda. ISI in Pakistan is a concrete problem for the United States. Framing this in terms of Al Qaeda does nothing to help us understand exactly what we’re up against. It just amplifies “War On Terror” nonsense talk to a shrill pitch.