This might sound like a crazy question but, at this point in time, do we really want to bury Al Qaeda? After all, it appears that with the growing revolutions in the Middle East/North Africa, Iran and Ahmed Ahadinejhad is the bigger threat in the region. Iran represents a Shia Muslim sect and Al Qaeda represents a Sunni Muslim sect. We might want to keep Al Qaeda intact until these revolutions are over with. I'd hate for us to wake up one day and find an Iranian led Shia Muslim Caliphate in the Middle East/North Africa and no indigenous Middle East force to resist that.
Hint: Al Qaeda is behind those revolutions.