"Al-Qaeda is on the run, and Osama Bin-Laden is dead," declared President Barack Obama  (in almost identical language) at more than a dozen campaign appearances and major policy speeches in the last year. But when America closes embassies in more than 20 countries for fear of terror, it sends a very strong message that America, not Al-Qaeda, is on the run. Britain, which made tremendous intelligence discoveries about Al-Qaida in Arabia and Yemen (some of which Obama aides endangered with credit-taking leaks), only closed its own embassy in Yemen, not in 24 countries. "Al-Qaida is not dead, but is alive and kicking, and it has merely changed its form," observed Professor Uzi Rabi, head of Middle East Studies at Tel Aviv University. Several Israeli experts have said that Western governments must be alert to "terror chatter" but also have to be careful that they do not grant terrorists a victory by inflicting damage on their own countries by reacting recklessly to what may...(Read Full Post)