[classicman]

How's al-Qaeda doing? You decide

The US enemy:
US deficit-spending on defense and homeland security continues to increase, with spending in Iraq alone now approaching US$12 billion per month.

Polls in 2007 showed that 26% of US Muslims under 30 years of age believe that suicide attacks are sometimes necessary in defense of Islam.

Eighteen of the 19 US presidential candidates support maintaining the status quo in US foreign policy toward the Muslim world, especially regarding Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Both US parties and most US media are attacking and trying to limit or end the rendition program run by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which has captured numerous senior al-Qaeda leaders

US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said in July that al-Qaeda had successfully regrouped and was capable of attacking in the United States.

The US-led coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan continued to shrink in 2007, with, for example, South Korea and Japan withdrawing from Afghanistan, and Poland and Australia announcing they would withdraw their combat forces from Iraq in 2008.

Nowhere is there any good news in this bit. A somber, but telling opinion indeed.