Sly double entendre of the day

Paul Krugman in another fine column in the New York Time says:

Ron Suskind's new book "The Price of Loyalty" is based largely on interviews with and materials supplied by Mr. O'Neill*. It portrays an administration in which political considerations — satisfying "the base"....

And what does "the base" mean in terrorism terms?

Al-Qaeda, meaning "the base", was created in 1989 as Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden and his colleagues began looking for new jihads.


*Mr O'Neill refers to ex-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, not me.