House Examines Obama’s Claims of Al-Qaeda ‘On the Path to Defeat’

Al-Qaeda Has Captured 'Significant Cities'

Two House committees, the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees are planning to hold hearings next week on the question of al-Qaeda’s status, questioning President Obama’s claim the group is “on the path to defeat.”

“Al-Qaeda controls more territory than it ever has before, and much of that is in Western Iraq where it has recently captured significant cities,” noted Rep. Ed Royce (R – CA).

President Obama claimed during the State of the Union speech that the parent al-Qaeda group was weakened, while other factions were rising in Northern Africa and Yemen.

Arguably this is the case, but as al-Qaeda’s parent group has embraced factions like Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) as their own, the distinction between proper al-Qaeda and its auxiliaries is becoming less obvious.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.