For sure, Obama left a number of key questions unanswered. He said he wants "to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda" in the region where the 9/11 plot was hatched, but he didn't spell out how he would measure progress toward that goal (the "metrics," he said, have yet to be developed); nor did he offer a definition for defeat. He didn't suggest what level of Afghani stability would be deemed sufficient for America to downsize its commitment; in other words, he didn't frame the terms for an exit strategy. And there were dicey security issues that he didn't address at all - such as how he might seek to disrupt the aid and comfort that terrorists receive from factions within Pakistan's military intelligence service.