Is the Terror Network as Connected as We Think?

Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria postulated that perhaps the Bush administration was making a grave error in it's inclusion of all terrorist activity in the Global War on Terror (GWOT). He likened the administration's approach to the U.S.'s view of Communism in the 1950's, to the networking of Al Qaeda asserting that perhaps some incidents in Somalia and Afghanistan were more isolated rather than planned through a terror network. I think Zakaria raises a valid question. Not to discount Al Qaeda's threat, but isn't it possible that a significant degree of networking has been paralyzed through the GWOT and now we are seeing more of the effect of isolated incidents carried out by fundamentalist Islamistattempting to perpetuate the vision of terror leaders who have either been terminated or been disconnected by the GWOT? Not being privy to the intelligence that the administration receives regularly (and not desiring to be privy, either) I will not submit that Zakaria is right in his view, but will submit that his question is one worth considering.