Al Qaeda has not gone away

Take a look at the Guardian’s report this morning on a new study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies on the current strength of al Qaeda. So much energy has been expended on denying the very existence of a war on terror and, in recent days, on attacking Petraeus – all you need to know on that subject, by the way, is in James’s piece in the new Spectator – that the global status of bin Laden’s terror network has tended to be neglected. So it is both important and chilling to read the finding of the IISS, “that ‘core’ al-Qaida is proving adaptable and resilient, and has retained an ability to plan and coordinate large-scale attacks in the western world despite the attrition it has suffered…The threat from Islamist terrorism remains as high as ever, and looks set to get worse.” The study also shows that the local character of Islamism is entirely compatible with a loose-knit global franchise to which regional terror groups swear allegiance.