Game over for al-Qaeda?

There is consensus in the US intelligence community that al-Qaeda is on the brink of collapse. Apparently, its remaining players have been reduced to raggedy dead-enders (to use the Rumsfeldian noun). Relentless drone attacks, countless kill & capture missions, and the fact that brandmaster bin Laden is sleeping with the fishes have taken a devastating toll on the jihadists. Wired's Spencer Ackerman thinks it's time to spike the football and declare victory. It's now a question of changing our mindsets. To wit: "That is what victory actually is: terrorism as a manageable threat, not to be dealt with through a perpetual global war. Once we harden some domestic targets, maximize the 'Americanness' of U.S. Muslims, bolster the defensive capabilities of key foreign allies -- their populations more than their security apparat -- then we can slow down the drone strikes responsibly, replace them with ISR orbits and do some strikes and roundups as necessary, harassing al-Qaida's residual capability to regenerate itself. The 9/11 era ends on our terms." Ackerman is right -- with the proviso that we stay mindful of what abolitionist Wendell Phillips once said: "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."