This is John Batchel.

Conversation with my very good colleague, Bill Rajo, of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, keeps a long war journal about al-Qaeda.

Is it capable?

Is it ready?

Can it launch an attack on the homeland, the United States?

Bill answers very carefully with reference to where it was in the 20th century, where it is in the 21st

century, and its ambition, global jihad. There's Bill Raggio on al-Qaeda in the third decade

of the 21st century, stronger than ever. More of this tonight.

You know, John, one of the things that's very frustrating in this field is that people will

say things, well, Al Qaeda hasn't conducted an attack in the United States in X amount of

months or years, and therefore it means they no longer seek to do so. I have to remind people that between the first bombing

at the World Trade Center in 1993 and then the 9-11 attack was eight years. Al-Qaeda is patient.

They're committed to their task, which is to establish a global caliphate, the terrorist attacks, the bombings,

the airplanes, all of that is merely a tactic in order to weaken the United States.

Al-Qaeda is more than capable if it puts its mind to it to conduct an attack here in the

United States or overseas against U.S. interests against embassies or businesses or American citizens.

Whether it chooses to do so at a particular time is certainly a different story.

And I would also remind that our defenses here in the United States, with Homeland Security,

whatever problems we have at the airports and

intelligence gathering and whatnot is far better than it was pre-9-11. But that doesn't mean

that al-Qaeda does not seek to launch an attack here. You mentioned the training camps in

Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda is, that's absolutely the case. The infrastructure has been built there.

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