Editorial Board
The New War on Al-Qaeda
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Six months ago, President Barack Obama told the American people that the end of the U.S. war against al-Qaeda was approaching. Three months later, a threat from al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch shuttered 18 U.S. diplomatic missions across much of the Muslim world. Just last month, the administration called al-Qaeda’s Iraq and Syria chapter “a transnational threat network.”
So the question presents itself: Was the president wrong? The answer depends on the meaning of al-Qaeda -- and on the meaning of war.