By Mike Miller
As far as I can tell, Barack Obama has told us at least 32 times that al Qaeda was “on the path to defeat,” “decimated” or some other variation. And that’s just after the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi.
Of course, who can forget this Obama quote from 2012: “Al Qaeda has been decimated, Osama bin Laden is dead.”
Yeah, Mr. President, Osama bin Laden may be dead, but al Qaeda is very much alive. In fact it now controls more territory than at any time in its history. From Aleppo in western Syria to Fallujah in central Iraq, al Qaeda now controls territory that stretches more than 400 miles across the heart of the Middle East, according to English and Arab language news accounts, as well as accounts on jihadist websites.
Indeed, al Qaeda appears to control more territory in the Arab world than ever. (Not bad for a “decimated” organization, huh?) In September of last year, a CNN reporting team concluded, “Al Qaeda has swept to power with the aim of imposing a strict Islamist ideology on Syrians across large swathes of Syria’s rebel-held north.”
In sum, al Qaeda affiliates now control much of northern and northwestern Syria as well as some parts of eastern Syria, as well as much of Anbar province, which is about a third of Iraqi territory.
Well, I’m guessing that al Qaeda neither feels “on the path to defeat,” nor “decimated”
http://www.ijreview.com/2014/01/107450-terrorist-group-run-now-controls-territory-time-history/
