Q A couple things. You said, first of all, that al Qaeda has been degraded. Actually, the report said al Qaeda’s leadership has been degraded, but that its ranks have increased. You also just —
MR. SNOW: But operational — okay.
Q Let me just finish and go through here. You also said that — you’re talking about things the administration has done and, yet, the intelligence estimate is taking this into account and coming up with this conclusion that the factors fueling this growth of the movement, they report, outweigh the vulnerability of the movement and will do so for some time. That’s not “we’re safer.”
MR. SNOW: No. It talks about jihadism.
Q It’s also not “we’re winning.”
MR. SNOW: Well, it doesn’t draw judgments like that. You’ve read the National Intelligence Estimate.
Q I’m practically quoting verbatim from the report. I could read it.
[snip]
Q Well, again, the report says, “factors fueling the movement outweigh the vulnerabilities.” It says they’re not —
MR. SNOW: Yes, but —
Q — that the movement has grown, and that it’s harder to find and harder to prevent attacks.
MR. SNOW: I believe what it says. You’ve gotten it about right.
Q And they’re training new leaders who are being battle-tested in Iraq.
MR. SNOW: No, it says — let’s run through it, because these are all good questions. First, it says — let’s see — what you’re talking about — I’m sorry. Where are we here? Rephrase the one that you’re going after here.
Q Let’s see —
Q The vulnerabilities question.
Q Right. Well, we can go back over — I can read you verbatim —
MR. SNOW: Holden right, here we go. Yes, the — okay, that’s — thank you.
Q — but we’re also talking about harder — you know, the “confluence of shared purpose and dispersed actors will make it harder to find and undermine jihadist groups.”
MR. SNOW: Right. Which is precisely why the President has said — if you look back at what the President has been saying, he says it’s numerous and more dispersed. We’re not disagreeing with that. I’m not trying to pick a fight with it.
What I’m trying to tell you is, there’s a difference between an al Qaeda that has training camps, that has the operational ability. What this is talking about is the ability to get people to say, I’m a jihadist, and be angry, to identify themselves as part of a movement. It’s not the same —
Q Tony, he says we’re winning the war on terrorism. That’s what he says.
MR. SNOW: I know.
Q And there are more of them. They’re more dispersed. They’re harder to find. And, yet, the President is saying, we’re winning the war on terrorism.
MR. SNOW: That’s right. But we’re also fighting the war on terrorism.
