From Forbes Magazine:
Yes, but it's not as powerful as it used to be.
What a difference four years makes. The counterterrrorism chops of the main candidates were the main issue of the 2004 election. In the 2008 contest, they were parenthetical. Terrorists haven't struck on American soil for over seven years. Does al-Qaida still matter?
There's no doubt that the takedown of the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan caused the latter's membership to disperse and its leadership to go underground. That loosened its command and control over its followers and effectively devolved a substantial degree of operational initiative to so-called "self-starter" or "homegrown" terrorist cells.
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