This cannot possibly true because everybody knows that the US war on terrorism is a miserable failure:

Al-Qaida shows signs of being in slow decline.
Midland Reporter-Telegram 10/30/2007

It is evident the terrorist organization known as al-Qaida still is working hard to disrupt the Western culture across the world, including in Iraq, but there are emerging signs the influence of the network is somewhat waning.

Oh sure, al-Qaida still is capable of carrying out devastating attacks in Iraq and other world venues, but the organization's structure pretty much has been disrupted. Al-Qaida continues to recruit Europeans for explosives training in Pakistan because Europeans can enter the United States more easily without a visa.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, "All across the Arab world, where al-Qaida had sought to build influence and bases of operation on the back of widespread anger against the U.S. over its war in Iraq and the broader war on terrorism, the movement is now showing signs that it is stalled, if not in retreat."

In Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, and other parts of Anbar Province, al-Qaida simply is gone. The al-Qaida network is having a hard time finding safe harbor anywhere in the world. And when they do it is in some remote area like Pakistan where they have local support among sympathtic tribal leaders.

Al-Qaida keeps limping along, popping up with these little groups here and there, causing trouble, producing a showdown, and then losing. Muslims in general are beginning to reject al-Qaida. Fewer and fewer Muslims are seeing al-Qaida as the organization seeking to defend the purity of the Muslim world.

This is not to say al-Qaida's recruiting efforts have stopped, but their efforts have been hindered. Suicide bombings in Iraq, for instance, still take place almost daily, but those attacks are down from 60 a month to 30 a month and less deadly overall. Also, the foreign flow of suicide bombers has dwindled as al-Qaida is finding fewer and fewer Muslims willing to give their lives for the cause.

The U.S. is doing something right in this war on terror, but that is the part of the story that is not being told. Al-Qaida increasingly is being sent underground and on the run. We understand successes in this area are hard to see and feel when there are still evidences of treacherous acts at every turn.

But this is a war that will be won by eliminating one piece of the puzzle at a time. It is tedious, costly and tests our resolve. We just hope we don't lose that resolve before the job is done.