No matter how often our leaders insist the enemy is al Qaeda and its destruction is our goal, the reality is different.
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If the September 11 attacks have taught us anything, it is that al Qaeda is most dangerous when it has a sanctuary from which to operate.
Al Qaeda is not mass murdering hundreds of Iraqi civilians in suicide bombings because the Iraqi government hasn't made enough progress toward political reconciliation, but because al Qaeda is determined to destroy any hope of political reconciliation.
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Appealing to this hard-core that is al Qaeda's traditional political base is arguably today its most important priority.
It is a worrisome fact that al Qaeda in Iraq is the only al Qaeda franchise ever to have actually used chemical weapons.
One could go on listing examples of the Taliban's ideological and tactical collaboration with al Qaeda, but the larger point is that separating al Qaeda and the Taliban is not going to be as relatively simple as splintering Iraqi insurgent groups from al Qaeda in Iraq.
Another challenge is al Qaeda's North Africa wing, which is responsible for bombings in several countries in the past two years.
"It may have changed its name, it may have broken with senior al Qaeda leadership such as Ayman al-Zawahiri, but it is al Qaeda in its doctrine, ambition and increasingly in its threat to U.S. interests, " said Brett McGurk, the deputy assistant secretary for Iraq and Iran.
So while August Kreis may be calling, there is no sign that al Qaeda is listening.
There is a reason why al Qaeda is on its heels and has been decimated.
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After a decade of conflict, it is surprising that al-Qaeda is not better understood.
Most of the skepticism over Iranian involvement with al-Qaeda has centered around the fact that Iran is ruled by a Shia Islamic theocracy, whereas al-Qaeda is a Sunni Wahhabi Islamic group.
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is no friend to the U.S. -- but neither is al Qaeda.
As a result, notes Mr. Kagan, it is al Qaeda's most financially stable outfit.
The biggest group associated with Bin Laden is al Qaeda, a multinational network he established in 1990.
This curious remark by our President brings another logical question to mind: how big is Al Qaeda's economy in comparison to ours?
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The most active offshoot group is al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, led by Nasir al Wahishi, bin Laden's former secretary in Afghanistan who escaped to Iran, was arrested, and subsequently extradited to Yemen in 2003.
The brutal Hussein regime is a faded memory and al-Qaeda is on its back.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is an al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, but the ministry denied the kidnappers have links with the terror network.
So the point is that removing leaders like al-Libi from the very top of al Qaeda is part of an ongoing effort to disrupt and dismantle, and ultimately defeat al Qaeda.
Realistically, probably the best you can get is containment and disruption, so that al Qaeda is no longer able to control territory as they do today.
It is worth reminding ourselves here, that Al Qaeda is not the cause, but rather the symptom of the malignancy called Islamic extremism and that even if we are able to defeat Al Qaeda totally, somebody else will almost certainly continue in its footsteps, as long as the underlying malignancy lives on.
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The extremist movement, which is closely linked with al Qaeda and is separate from the Afghan Taliban, also vowed revenge, accusing Islamabad of approving the U.S. drone attacks.
Even if al-Awlaki is hiding out with his tribe in the mountains of southern Yemen, the official added, authorities have no doubt that he is a member of al Qaeda and is now one of the top five or six operatives in Yemen for the terrorist organization.
That is, the court astoundingly reasoned that because al Qaeda is a sub-sovereign, transnational terror network i.e.
Granted, the region at the moment is not a pretty picture, but al-Qaeda is on the run and Iraq, with some patience, may still turn out to be a success.
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