In a column published in this space last week regarding former Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates’ smackdown of Barack Obama, I delved into some long forgotten history regarding Democrats’ quest to turn the public against America’s involvement in Iraq. Despite the importance of maintaining unity in a nation during wartime, Democrats chose politics over country in an effort to capture the White House in 2004. Included in that column were a series of quotes, mostly from Democrats, utterly destroying the leftist-promoted notion that Iraq was strictly a “neocon” adventure. Since few things bother me more than revisionist fantasies, it is time to set the record straight once again. The subject here is the unmistakeable rise of al Qaeda in the Middle East, and the plethora of lies our current Commander-in-Chief told us to obscure that reality.

We begin with reality. A devastating column written by CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen and Jennifer Rowland, a graduate student at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, reveals that al Qaeda “appears to control more territory in the Arab world than it has done at any time in its history.” It is a swath of territory comprising more than 400 miles, including parts of Syria and Iraq. Regrettably, it also includes the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah. Fallujah is where 1,300 Americans were killed in the effort to drive the Islamofascists out of that city during the height of the Iraq war.

Not mentioned in that column are the number of other locations heavily infested with al Qaeda’s presence. They include Somalia, Libya, Yemen and Lebanon. When one includes al Qaeda affiliates or those aligned with their worldview, such as Nigeria’s Boko Haram, Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Taliban in Afghanistan, Indonesia’s Jemaah Islamiah, the Abu Sayyaf group based in the Phillipines, and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)–to name a few–one can make a reasonable case that al Qaeda, et al, are a formidable enemy with a worldwide presence. That presence undoubtedly includes sleeper cells in several Western nations.

What you can’t make a case for, in any way, shape or form, is the idea that al Qaeda is in retreat, or on the run. Or more accurately, you can’t make that case unless a corrupted mainstream media is more than wiling to let you get away with it, in order to help secure your reelection. Here is a sampling of President Obama’s attempt to revise history in that regard. The important thing to note is that every quote below was made after the attack in Benghazi. Kudos to CNSNews.com for doing the work the mainstream media refuses to do. Read ‘em and weep for your country:

“A day after 9/11, we are reminded that a new tower rises above the New York skyline, but al Qaeda is on the path to defeat and bin Laden is dead” –Sept. 12, 2012, Las Vegas NV, one day after four Americans were killed in a terrorist attack in Benghazi.

“Four years ago I promised to end the war in Iraq – and we did. I said we’d wind down the war in Afghanistan – and we are. And while a new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat and bin Laden is dead.” –September 13, Golden, CO. The same quote was repeated in Cincinnati and Columbus, OH on Sept. 17.

“We’ve got choices about war and peace. I ended the war in Iraq, as I promised. We are transitioning out of Afghanistan. We have gone after terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11 and decimated al Qaeda.” –New York City, NY, September 18.

“We’ve decimated al Qaeda’s top leadership in the border regions around Pakistan, but in Yemen, in Libya, in these other places – increasingly places like Syria – what you see is these elements that don’t have the same capacity that a Bin Laden or core al Qaeda had, but can still cause a lot of damage, and we’ve got to make sure we remain vigilant and are focused on preventing them from doing us any harm.” –Sept. 20, Miami, FL.

“Al Qaeda is on the path to defeat” –Sept. 21, Woodbridge, VA and Sept. 23, Milwaukee, WI.

“Al Qaeda is weakened and Bin Laden is no more.” –Sept. 25, United Nations, New York, NY.

“Al Qaeda is on the path to defeat.” –Sept. 26, Bowling Green, OH, and Sept. 27, Virginia Beach VA.

“We said that we would go after al Qaeda, and they are on the run and Bin Laden is dead.” –Sept. 28, Washington, D.C.

“[Al Qaeda] is on the path to defeat.” –Sept. 30, 2012, Las Vegas, NV, and Oct. 4 in Denver, CO and Madison, WI.

“Al Qaeda is on the run and Bin Laden is no more.” –Oct. 5, no location cited.

“…and today, al Qaeda is on its heels and Bin Laden is no more.” –Oct. 9, San Francisco, CA, and Oct. 11, Miami, FL in two different locations.

The “path to defeat” line was repeated on Oct. 18 in Manchester, NH, and on Oct. 19 in Fairfax, VA.

“Al Qaeda’s core leadership has been decimated.” –Oct. 23, Boca Raton, FL and Delray Beach, FL.

“That’s why, working with Joe Biden and our national security team, we’ve been able to decimate al Qaeda.” –Oct. 23, Dayton, OH.

“I said we’d refocus on the terrorists who actually carried out the 9/11 attacks – and al Qaeda is decimated and Bin Laden is dead.” –Oct. 24, Cleveland, OH.

“Al Qaeda is on the path to defeat.” –Oct. 24, Las Vegas, NV, Oct. 25, Richmond, VA, and Oct. 27. Nashua, NH.

“Thanks to sacrifice and service of our brave men and women in uniform, the war in Iraq is over, the war in Afghanistan is winding down, al Qaeda has been decimated, Osama bin Laden is dead.” –Nov. 1, 2012, Green Bay, WI.

On Sunday, Robert Gates doubled-down on his criticism of Obama, citing an indifference towards the sacrifices of America’s fighting forces that ought to infuriate every decent American. "It’s one thing to tell the troops that you support them,“ said Gates. "It’s another to work at making them believe that you believe as president that their sacrifice is worth it, that the cause is just, that what they are doing is important for the country, and that they must succeed. President Bush did that with the troops when I was secretary. I did not see President Obama do that. As I write in the book, it was this absence of passion, this absence of a conviction of the importance of success that disturbed me.”

Contrast that with the passion of Obama’s al Qaeda “narrative,” which is all about touting a success that never happened. Couple it with mainstream media whose unrelenting coverage of Gov. Chris Christie and his “Bridge-gate” fiasco stands in direct contrast to their unrelenting incuriosity regarding the true condition of a group that has already killed more than 3,000 Americans. Ask yourself whether conspicuously placed traffic cones, or an organization dedicated to establishing a worldwide Islamic caliphate under auspices of Sharia Law, poses a greater threat to our democratic republic. Ask yourself at what point a serial-lying, scandal-ridden, Constitutionally-contemptuous president gets held to account for anything, even as the thousands of American troops who answered their country’s call are now forced to endure the reality that many of the sacrifices they made have been in vain. Monumental sacrifices that have been callously cast aside to satisfy the political ambitions of the vainest man to ever occupy the Oval Office.

If al Qaeda attacks America again, remember the above quotations. Much like the left’s collective amnesia regarding their own assessments of Saddam Hussein, and their support for the use of force in Iraq, they will be “forgotten.”

Or revised.

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