US President Barack Obama, who is facing Republican criticism for having had to shut down more than 20 American embassies despite his earlier assertions that Al Qaeda was on the path to defeat, has admitted that radical, violent terrorism is still out there, stressing America has got to stay on top of it.
“Now, it’s a reminder that for all the progress we’ve made — getting bin laden, putting al Qaeda between Afghanistan and Pakistan back on its heels — that this radical, violent extremism is still out there. And we’ve got to stay on top of it,” Obama said during an appearance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” with Jay leno. Denying that the embassy closings in so many countries was a case of overreaction, in the context of the happenings at the US consulate in Benghazi last year, Obama said: “The countries themselves sometimes are ill-equipped to provide the kind of security that you want. Even if we reinforce it, there are still vulnerabilities.”
On significance of the threat, Obama said: “It’s significant that we’re taking every precaution. We had already done a lot to bolster embassy security around the world, but especially in the Middle East and North Africa, where the threats tend to be highest.” It was Obama’s first comment on the subject after the US effected a week-long closure of its missions across much of the Muslim world and issued a global travel alert for Americans.