Experts question Bush's figure on purge of Al-Qaeda leadership

US President George W. Bush has touted the capture or killing of 75 percent of Al-Qaeda's leaders to show US voters the war on terror's progress, but intelligence experts say the group's senior ranks have been filled by new people. "We're making progress, three-quarters of Al-Qaeda leaders have been brought to justice," Bush said in the last televised election debate against Democratic challenger John Kerry on October 13. Kerry, who will face Bush in the November 2 election, did not question the president's figure but vowed to conduct an aggressive battle against Osama bin Laden's network.  Melvin Goodman, a national security expert at the Center for International Policy, questioned Bush's figure. "The president throws numbers around," Goodman said. The US intelligence community is "not even sure about the number of actual Al-Qaeda (members)," he said, adding, "We don't know the real number." A US counter-terrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Bush's 75 percent figure represents Al-Qaeda's pre-September 11 leadership. The captured or dead leaders have partly been replaced and Al-Qaeda's leadership has not necessarily been reduced to 25 percent, the official said. There have been high-profile arrests but top Al-Qaeda figures remain on the run. [more ]