The U.S. intelligence community and special operations forces will continue to wagea vigorous campaignagainst the remnants of Al Qaeda, but the period of large-scale U.S. military activity in Southwest Asia is coming to a close.
Lebovich told CNN that if both senior commanders have been killed it will likely set back efforts by jihadists to wageacampaign of guerrilla warfare against the French and their allies.
Such statements, which are contradicted in both the statements and actions of men like Palestinian President and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister and former Hamas finance minister Salaam Fayyad, undermine U.S. efforts to wagea credible public diplomacy campaignagainst terrorism.