President Barack Obama said this to the terrorists in his 2009 inaugural address,

We say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

Obama had this to say about terrorists in his speech last Thursday concerning his evolving counterterrorism policy:

Neither I, nor any President, can promise the total defeat of terror.

Therefor,

[T]his war, like all wars, must end.  That’s what history advises.  That’s what our democracy demands.

Never mind that wars don’t end because one side wants them to.  Wars end when one side has been clearly crushed or otherwise begs for surrender.

The terrorists haven’t quit.  Obama insists that “core” al Qaeda is “on the run.”  “Core” al Qaeda is a cynical sophistry: al Qaeda has spread its control, through its branches, affiliates, and allies, far beyond the mountains of Afghanistan into Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, throughout the Maghreb, and is gaining influence in Syria and regaining it in Iraq.  The terrorists are not done; Obama has given them no reason to agree to the quitting.

Which side now faces defeat?  Which side now is begging to be let off the field?