Stratfor dissects the story.

It was a week in which everyone focused on the war, but not one that made a whole lot of sense -- at least on the surface.

... The issue, as always, is how good the gut is.

... Precisely what do we mean when we say al Qaeda?

... When the US government speaks about thousands of al Qaeda fighters, the vision is that the camps are filled with these thousands of men with the skill level of the 9/11 attackers. It is a scary vision, which the administration has pushed since 9/11, but it isn't true.