Touting the supposed successes of the Bush administration on the September 20 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Jon Caldara Show, right-wing pundit and frequent guest Ann Coulter asserted, "[W]e've wrapped up Al Qaeda."

Media Matters for America has rebutted similar claims by conservative commentators -- in March for instance, Republican strategist Mary Matalin asserted that "[w]e have taken out the Al Qaeda network. We've decimated it." Among other things, Media Matters noted that Al Qaeda had taken responsibility for the July 7, 2005, London train bombings. In a January 19 article, the Associated Press listed other "[r]ecent major attacks outside Iraq claimed by or linked to the al-Qaida terror network," including the July 23, 2005, bombings in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt; the October 7, 2004, bombings in Taba and Ras Shitan, Egypt; and the March 11, 2004, train bombings in Madrid.

On July 8, 2005, the Washington Post reported that Al Qaeda had become “more a brand than a tight-knit group” and had responded to the U.S.-led war on terrorism by “dispersing its surviving operatives, distributing its ideology and techniques for mass-casualty attacks to a wide audience on the Internet, and encouraging new adherents to act spontaneously in its name.” The Post added, “Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, terrorism experts in and out of government have warned that the movement has appeared to gain ground.”

Further evidence of Al Qaeda's persistence comes from the U.S. State Department. In the most recent edition of its Country Reports on Terrorism, released in April of this year, the State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism found that by the end of 2005, it “appeared” that Al Qaeda's “senior leadership often inspired terrorist activity but could not direct it as fully as in the past.” The report specifically noted "[a]n increased capacity for acts of terror by local terrorists with foreign ties (demonstrated in the July 7 London bombings)" as well as "[a]n increase in suicide bombings":

During 2005, evidence began to emerge that, in the face of counterterrorism successes, central al-Qaida (AQ) leaders were seeking new ways to interact with associated networks. By year's end, it appeared that AQ senior leadership often inspired terrorist activity but could not direct it as fully as in the past.

Although the international community's actions have degraded the ability of the core AQ leadership group -- Usama bin Ladin and his immediate lieutenants -- to mount global acts of terrorism, AQ and its affiliates' political will has not been undermined. Terrorists continued to attempt to adapt to improved countermeasures and evolve new approaches in response to a less permissive operating environment. In 2005, we saw indications of:

• An increasing AQ emphasis on ideological and propaganda activity to help advance its cause. This led to cooperation with al-Qaida in Iraq, the organization led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and with AQ affiliates around the globe, as well as with a new generation of Sunni extremists;

• The proliferation of smaller, looser terrorist networks that are less capable but also less predictable;

• An increased capacity for acts of terror by local terrorists with foreign ties (demonstrated in the July 7 London bombings);

• An increase in suicide bombings. The July 7 London bombing was the first such attack in Europe (three of the four terrorists were second-generation British citizens of South Asian descent); we also noted a marked increase in suicide bombings in Afghanistan;

• The growth of strategically significant networks that support the flow of foreign terrorists to Iraq.

The report found that “AQ's leaders are scattered and on the run; its Afghan safe haven is gone; its relationship with the Taliban has diminished; its finances and logistics have been disrupted; and its organizational networks previously centered on Afghanistan are now more decentralized.” These findings, however, do not suggest that Al Qaeda has been “wrapped up.” On the contrary, the report revealed that despite extended disruption of the organization:

AQ's core leadership continues to influence and provide ideological guidance to followers worldwide. By remaining at large, and intermittently vocal, bin Ladin and Zawahiri symbolize resistance to the international community, demonstrate they retain the capability to influence events, and inspire actual and potential terrorists.

In Iraq, recent reports have indicated that despite the June 7 U.S. military strike that killed the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the organization continues to pose an ongoing threat. A September 21 Washington Post report stated: “Attacks against U.S. troops have increased in the two weeks since al-Qaeda in Iraq's new leader [Abu Ayyub al-Masri] urged insurgents to target American forces, a U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday.”

On September 26 -- several days after Coulter's assertion that Al Qaeda had been “wrapped up” -- President Bush declassified the key judgments of an April National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which stated that “al-Qa'ida will continue to pose the greatest threat to the Homeland and US interests abroad by a single terrorist organization”:

United States-led counterterrorism efforts have seriously damaged the leadership of al-Qa'ida and disrupted its operations; however, we judge that al-Qa'ida will continue to pose the greatest threat to the Homeland and US interests abroad by a single terrorist organization. We also assess that the global jihadist movement-which includes al-Qa'ida, affiliated and independent terrorist groups, and emerging networks and cells-is spreading and adapting to counterterrorism efforts.

From the September 20 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Jon Caldara Show:

CALDARA: It seems as though we've had better, I don't want to say better -- but we've had some pretty sizable victories with divided government. Under Reagan, we were able to cut marginal tax rates 30 percent. Under Bill Clinton, we were able to reform welfare; it's been 10 years now, and welfare reform has been superb.

COULTER: Well --

CALDARA: Is there something about Republicans --

COULTER: You can't say --

CALDARA: -- Is there something about Republicans that we do better when we're at odds rather than when we're in our own hands?

COULTER: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Government would be so much better if it were 100 percent Republican. Clinton ran on “mend it, don't end it; mend it don't end it.” He tricked people whose families have voted Democrat, but don't realize the Democratic Party has gone insane, into thinking he was an old-style Democrat by claiming he was going to reform welfare. Well, he had a Democrat Congress. He had his own party in the House and in the Senate his first two years. He did nothing about welfare. Republicans took over the House and the Senate, put a gun to his head -- and by the way, he kept vetoing or, you know, rejecting the first few versions of it -- finally, it just became too embarrassing when they send up welfare reform for him not to sign it.

CALDARA: Right, but it happened with conflict between the president and Congress.

COULTER: It only seemed surprising --

CALDARA: We do well there --

COULTER: -- because we embarrass the president.

CALDARA: Right, we do well there.

COULTER: We've done pretty -- if Bush were a Republican we'd be doing kick-ass right now. We cut taxes; we invaded two countries; we've wrapped up Al Qaeda. If this were a Democrat, it would be -- it would be the second coming of the Democratic Party.