U.S.: Core Al Qaeda ‘Gone’

Al Qaeda is up against the ropes a year after a surgical Navy SEAL strike took out top terrorist Osama bin Laden, counterterrorist officials told reporters Friday. While some pockets of the radical Islamist group remain active in Pakistan, drone strikes and other American tactics have greatly lessened the group’s capacity for attack. The mission that took out bin Laden has become a main stumping point for President Obama as he vamps up his reelection efforts, a way of showing that the cool-tempered commander in chief can give the go when it counts.