Al Qadea has not gotten stronger. They are simply experiencing a come-back from the 3/4 of them we killed or detained in the early years of the wars. Pretty soon people there we understand that joining Al Qaeda is a death sentence.
I will admit the strength of Al Qaefa is exaggerated, however the strength of fundamentalist islam is getting stronger. See what is a death sentence to a person who thinks dying a martha will get you in heaven. Plus saying places like Iraq is getting better and war is nearly won is wrong. Vietnam comes to mind. Seriously speaking why isn't america pulling out its troops from Iraq? The anwser is because it is still messed up. Seriously america is not going to win the Iraq war and then the terriorist will have two places to hide, Iraq and pakistein. Well, assuming the sunni's win.