George,

Why has Bush’s preposterous claim that '75 percent' of al Qaeda leaders have been 'brought to justice' received only a mild reprimand on Factcheck.org? This statement is patently and demonstrably false:

Factcheck referred to an Oct 1, 2004 AP story to imply that the bogus numbers referred to arrests of 75 percent of bin Laden's network at the time of the September 11 attacks - not those who are running the terrorist organization today. But with all due respect to Factcheck, the 75 percent reference quoted in the story was the number of Guantanamo prisoners who had confessed– which is very different from the number of known al Qaeda leaders who have been killed or captured.

Harsh reality check – Of the 22 top known al Qaeda terrorists identified by the Bush administration after 9/11/01, only three – which is less then ten percent of the total - have been 'brought to justice'. Only three.

Remember the composite photo with all the al Qaeda mug shots that Bush was waving around in early February of 2002? It was the FBI’s 'Most Wanted Terrorist' list, and when it was created, about a month after 9/11, it included 22 mug shots of known Al Quada terrorists. Over three years later, only three have been caught or killed. And for some reason, two of these are still on the list! Here’s a little world events trivia question: Go to the FBI’s 'Most Wanted Terrorist' list and try to guess which of the original 22 is no longer on the list. If you guessed Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, then congratulations! Now do you recognize which two of the 21 terrorists shown as 'wanted' have actually been 'found'? If you picked Muhammad Atef and Ahmed Ghailani then congratulations again! You are one of the few people actually paying attention to the details, which is why Bush and Cheney can get away with this crap! Why doesn’t the FBI know that they have already killed one, and caught another of their top 21 'wanted' terrorists? Now for the really big question! Do you know where the other 19 'Most Wanted Terrorists' are – over 90 percent of the original number? No! And neither do Bush and Cheney!

An article which appeared 2/3/02 in the Washington Post by Bob Woodward and Dan Balz references some 'best available account' that purportedly shows that 16 of the 22 top al Qaeda leaders were still at large at the time. Really? But this would imply that six of the original top 22 had been killed or captured. Which other three top al Qaeda leaders on the list were captured by 2/3/02 besides those already mentioned? Well, actually none it turns out, but they found some new ones that the FBI hadnt heard of before. Imagine that!

So how many new terrorists have been created since 9/11 and how many have been 'brought to justice'? The administration certainly has no idea, at least not that they are willing to share with the American people, although the folks at www.trackingthethreat.com have put together a fairly credible list of over 280 known terrorists who have been identified from open source reports, documents, news stories, etc. Not all of these are al Qaeda, and some, like Abu Nidal were killed by others (ironically Nidal was in all likelihood assassinated by Saddam Hussein). All but a few dozen of these known terrorists are still at large. In fact British Ambassador Sir Ivor Roberts recently called Mr Bush 'al-Qaeda's best recruiting sergeant (thinking his remarks were off the record). Are the American people safer? You be the judge. But to say that 75 percent of known of al Qaeda leaders have been 'brought to justice' is either reprehensible ignorance or an outright falsehood. It cannot go unanswered! Kerry’s people must beat Bush and Cheney with a stick over this, and while they’re at it, lets hear a credible plan to catch those other 19 top al Qaeda terrorist leaders that Bush vowed to 'bring to justice' on 9/11 as well as the hundreds of new al Qaeda terrorist leaders that have recently been identified.

Kevin Lynch (electronic mail, October 11, 2004)