Susan Rice: When We Said We Decimated al Qaeda, We Meant ‘al Qaeda Core’

‘That element of al Qaeda ... has been substantially degraded ... what has happened, though, over years, is that al Qaeda has metastasized’

LAUER: "Things we were talking about here, with the Khorisan group, with ISIS and the territory that they have taken in Iraq, with a threat to airline travel internationally, with beheadings that were seen on camera - what happened to the days when the administration was able to say and felt confident that we've death a crippling blow to al Qaeda and Islamic militants?"RICE: "Well, Matt, understand what we've been saying. We've been focused for my years as you know on al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan - what we call al Qaeda core. And that element of al Qaeda, which is the one that hatched the 9/11 plot and executed it, has been substantially degraded, and it doesn't, at the stage, pose nearly the same type of threat that it used to. What has happened, tough, over years, is that al Qaeda has metastasized. Imagine a cancer that had an original tumor and elements of the cells of that tumor have moved to places like the Arabian peninsula, Yemen, parts of Africa, Somalia, and what we call the Sahel region, Mali, and now also to Syria. So we have to deal with each of these cells. As you've seen, we have taken action in Yemen, we've taken actions in Somalia, and now with ISIS, action is necessary."

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