Andrew McCarthy: Administration Underrating al-Qaida Threat

The Obama administration has been minimizing the threat posed by al-Qaida for years, says former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy.

"Something that we've been arguing for many years . . . is that what you need to focus on with Islamic supremacism is the ideology," McCarthy told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.

"What the Obama administration has tried to do is miniaturize the threat by focusing on al-Qaida and then even hyper-focusing on what they call core al-Qaida, to the point that basically they say if you're not wearing an al-Qaida T-shirt while you're blowing up the bridge, you're not a terrorist. You're a lone wolf or whatever."

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McCarthy, a National Review columnist, said the consistent underrating of that ideological component is exactly what al-Qaida intended.

"[They want] franchises all over the world operating semi-autonomously," he said. "In many ways, [it's] more dangerous than it's ever been.

Dr. Walid Phares, a Fox News Middle East and terrorism expert, added that al-Qaida has become "a very, very serious worldwide threat not just against us, against our allies, and even some of the competitors, such as Russia and others."

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