Al-Qaeda fully restructured?

Bin Ladens network cracks on

Always basing themselves where there is trouble and strife, are al-Qaeda back in town?

According to Con Coughlin in the Daily Telegraph:

while intelligence officials say it is impossible to estimate the total number of al-Qaeda activists worldwide, the emergence of Yemen as a major terrorist training and recruitment centre... is now major concern

I'm not doubting this at all, as only before Christmas Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was discovered on Flight 232 to Detroit, trying to detonate an explosive device near his bollocks

And that Yemen is now an integral part of our fight against terrorism, as our graphic reports

But what trick are we missing, and why is intelligence always two steps behind?

And if I can be stopped at an airport for carrying an almost empty bottle of water, then why can't dozens of angry migrating militants hell-bent on blowing up the innocent?