Contrary to Obama’s ‘Narrative,’ Al-Qaeda Threat Getting Worse, Say GOP Critics

(CNSNews.com) – The al-Qaeda terrorist threat against America is “getting worse, not better,” it’s “deceptive” of President Obama to suggest otherwise, and a lack of U.S. leadership is contributing to the problem, two senior Republican lawmakers charged on Sunday.

Speaking on the day when the State Department reopened 18 out of 19 diplomatic missions that had been shuttered for a week over a specific terrorist threat, U.S. House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) both took issue with the administration’s practice of differentiating between “core al-Qaeda” and affiliates.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, McCain accused the administration of “semantic gymnastics” while McCaul on NBC’s Meet the Press said it was making a “distinction without a difference. It’s all al-Qaeda.”

“And it’s spreading,” McCaul continued. “It’s getting worse, not better. And I think the American people need to know that. And I believe it’s very deceptive for this president to give a narrative that is pretty much over when, in fact, what I see is a spider web throughout northern Africa into Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan. This threat is getting worse, not better.”

Obama maintains that “core al-Qaeda” – the Pakistan-based group led by Ayman al-Zawahiri since the death of Osama bin Laden – has been severely weakened even as affiliates in Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere still pose a significant threat.

Via: CNS News

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