We've Got al Qaeda on the Run Alright ... In Africa, Stronger Than Ever!

Oh yes, al Qaeda has been decimated, war is peace, ignorance is strength and freedom is slavery!

All hail Dear Leader Barack Hussein!

At the Wall Street Journal, "Terror Fight Shifts to Africa: U.S. Considers Seeking Congressional Backing for Operations Against Extremists":

WASHINGTON—Military counterterrorism officials are seeking more capability to pursue extremist groups in Africa and elsewhere that they believe threaten the U.S., and the Obama administration is considering asking Congress to approve expanded authority to do it.

The move, according to administration and congressional officials, would be aimed at allowing U.S. military operations in Mali, Nigeria, Libya and possibly other countries where militants have loose or nonexistent ties to al Qaeda's Pakistan headquarters. Depending on the request, congressional authorization could cover the use of armed drones and special operations teams across a region larger than Iraq and Afghanistan combined, the officials said.

The idea comes as the U.S. prepares by 2014 to draw down its remaining forces in Afghanistan, which were authorized by Congress in response to the country serving as base for the al Qaeda plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. That authorization has since been applied to pursuing al Qaeda-linked groups as far as Somalia and Yemen, but the threat posed by militants has widened to include other areas and other alliances.

The discussion about seeking new authority underscores the growing U.S. alarm over Islamic extremists in North Africa, where an al Qaeda offshoot has seized control of territory following a coup in Mali to provide the group and its offshoots a working base for operations. The U.S. administration has called the Mali situation a "powder keg" that could destabilize surrounding countries and imperil Western interests.

"The conditions today are vastly different than they were previously," Gen. Carter Ham, the head of U.S. Africa command, said in an interview. "There are now non-al Qaeda-associated groups that present significant threats to the United States." He called the debate over new authorization a "worthy discussion."hreats to the United States." He called the debate over new authorization a "worthy discussion."

Really?

But I thought al Qaeda was "on the run"? "Decimated"? Dear Leader promised us: "Obama Has Touted Al Qaeda’s Demise 32 Times since Benghazi Attack."

Well, it's okay if President Hussein lies on occasion. The great left-forces needed Obama's reelection to complete our fundamental transformation of America. It's all about trade offs, and I trust Brother Barack to do his progressive best to keep pushing for the withering away of the state and the full achievement of communism. Honesty and integrity are bourgeois notions, hopelessly inadequate for the challenges of today's day and age. Besides, the reactionary forces of conservatism and tradition are too stupid to even handle the truth. And, added bonus, if terrorism's really still a problem Dear Leader can claim continued exigencies for his unprecedented expansion of the kill list citizens' elimination program.

It's all working out as planned!

More from Walter Russell Mead, "The War on Terror We Aren’t Fighting Shifts to Africa."