The bad news is that there are persistent leaks to the effect that these Shermanesque statements are to be taken with the same grain of salt as Mr. Bush's declared determination pre-election to keep Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon for the durationof his term.
This week, Mr Abbas held a series of meetings with the militant groups, discussing their participation, if not in the election itself, at least in a unified interim Palestinian leadership for the durationof the campaign.