WELL, LET’S HOPE: U.S. Officials Believe Al Qaeda On Brink Of Collapse. “The assessment reflects a widespread view at the CIA and other agencies that a relatively small number of additional blows could effectively extinguish the Pakistan-based organization that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — an outcome that was seen as a distant prospect for much of the past decade.” Hmm. “Pakistan-based.”