As al-Qaida grows, leaders remain a global threat

WASHINGTON (AP) — Far from being on the brink of collapse, al-Qaida’s core leadership remains a potent threat — and one that experts say has encouraged the terror network’s spread into more countries today than it was operating in immediately after 9/11.

President Barack Obama, who ordered the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, has described al-Qaida’s headquarters as “a shadow of its former self” and his spokesman Jay Carney has called it “severely diminished” and “decimated.” The bravado, however, didn’t match the Obama administration’s action this week.