IGNORE PREVIOUS ASSURANCES – AT 8:32 A.M. ET:  We have been assured repeatedly by the Obamans that Al Qaeda is on its last legs, vastly diminished since Dear Leader ordered the strike on bin Laden, then took credit for the whole operation.

Not so fast, guys.  It now turns out that Hillary Clinton is in Africa in part because of spreading Al Qaeda influence.  It also turns out that Al Qaeda is becoming more powerful in the Syrian opposition, filling a vacuum that we refused to fill with our hands-off policy.  And then there's this:

(Reuters) - Three people linked to al Qaeda have been arrested in the south of Spain, one in possession of explosives they planned to use in attacks in either the Iberian country or other European nations, Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said on Thursday.

He said police arrested on Wednesday two al Qaeda members from ex-Soviet republics close to Ciudad Real who were likely heading to France, and a Turkish man near Cadiz whose house was searched and where explosives were found.

The minister said one of the two arrested near Ciudad Real was a senior al Qaeda operative who had extensive experience in bomb-making.

"It is one of the most important operations against al Qaeda to date to be carried out on an international level," he said.

"There are clear indications that the suspects arrested could have been planning an attack in Spain, and or, other European countries," the minister told a news conference.

He said the operation was conducted with the help of other international police forces, and that the explosive material was being analyzed. No details were given on how much material was found, though the minister said it was enough to blow up a bus.

An attack in 2004 outside a key railway station in Madrid which killed 191 people was blamed on al Qaeda.

COMMENT:  There's the real world, then there's the Obama world.  The tragedy is that much of the press buys into the Obama world, the world created for our "journalists" by the colleges they attended.  In the Obama world, our foreign policy has been brilliantly successful, everyone loves us again, and we can devote our entire attention to rebuilding our society at home, in Leader's image. 

The real world has a way of intruding.

August 2,  2012