Experts question Bush's figure on purge of Al-Qaeda leadership
Monday, November 1, 2004 at 04:45PM
TheSpook
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 ]
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