Al-Qaida IISS Still A Large Threat

"Al-Qaida has revived, spread and is capable of a spectacular" from UK Guardian reports that a prominent think tank London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has said that al-Qaida is as strong as ever and poses a grave threat.  It also put forth the following assessments:

· Iran could have a nuclear weapon by 2009 or 2010, though this remains the "worst-case prediction";

· the US suffered a loss of authority as a result of the failure to impose order in Iraq. "The strategic hole the US found itself in [in 2007] did not have any obvious escape";

· there are serious doubts about the ability of Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, but any replacement would probably come too late to "halt the draining of American willpower to 'stay the course' ".

· that if climate change is allowed to continue unchecked, its affects will be catastrophic "on the level of nuclear war".