Yeah Al Qaeda are on wane at the moment. Iraq has been a disaster for them. Alienating Muslims there with their tactics and beaten on 'home soil' by the U.S. The election of Obama offered them hope and respite. Thankfully Obama surged U.S support in Afghanistan but paradoxically trivialized the threat of Islamic extremism with his PC response to the 3 terrorist attacks(one failed) on U.S soil this year.