"75% of Al Queda" - How Many Al Queda ARE There, Smirky?

[Stephanie]

75% of WHAT NUMBER?

[supercrash]

1. I think he fucked up...

Even though he said it twice..

I think the talking point is that 75% of the LEADERSHIP was captured...probably another lie

[Stephanie]

2. And how many of THEM would there be?

Point being it's a completely bogus number. They have no idea.

[supercrash]

3. Maybe counting the top ten..

Who the fuck knows

Khalid was certainly at the top...maybe #3

The top 2 of course are still planning our deaths

75% SOUNDS LIKE HORSESHIT

[TahitiNut]

12. About two dozen.

This "statistic" is based solely on two estimates. The CIA "estimated" that the al Qaeda leadership was about two dozen people, of whom the CIA "estimates" that about eighteen have been killed.

An obsolete guess coupled with a wild-assed guess (WAG) and then misrepresented as "members" instead of "leadership" give us yet another LIE MUFFIN from the bullshit bakeshop of the Busholinis.

[Stephanie]

19. "the bullshit bakeshop of the Busholinis"

LOL!

[Bullshot]

14. I don't think anybody has ever called Bush and Cheney on that number.

They've run all over the country boasting that they've captured 75% of the al Quaida leadership for months. I'd like to see a list of all of the leaders and a list of those captured.

Otherwise, just like Cheney demonstrated Tuesday, they just say anything to sound tough and expect you to take their word just because they said so.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

4. "There are exactly 300 Communists in the State Department"

Bush's rhetoric is pretty damn similar to his commie-hunting inspiration, Joe McCarthy.

Both are/were alcoholics, both relied on fear mongering.

[donco6]

5. Kerry had a great line there.

At the beginning of the war there were only a few hundred Al Q, now there are THOUSANDS, and more joining every day. Iraq wasn't a haven for terrorists before, NOW it is! All under this president's watch.

PLUS, Iran now has a viable nuclear program, N Korea went from one "maybe" nuke to 6 or 7 actual nukes - all because Bush took his eye off the ball to go after Saddam Hussein, who had NOTHING to do with 911.

[Stephanie]

6. I think it's time they start talking about WHY Bush would do this.

Would it make people understand it better if he talked about the think tanks planning this war for years and looking for an opportunity to get it going?

[madmom]

7. does he think they aren't being replaced???n/t

[MADem]

8. Well, we know where a few of them...

...spent this past week--on the Israeli-Egyptian border, blowing up the Hilton and tourist spots. Bet those poor bastards don't feel safer....

[chookie]

9. He means Martha Stewart and Cat Stevens

Osama bin Laden remains at large.

[nostamj]

10. they've been saying that

or two-thirds, for a year now. but have not produced a SINGLE AQ member captured...

it's pure BS

[Andy_Stephenson]

11. But...But

they found Saddam in a hidey hole...Isn't he Al Kady?

[diabhal]

13. CNN said this meant 15 people

They had a Factcheck.org guy on and he said it's based on the 20 known Al Qaida leaders they knew about in Sept 2001. They've caught 15 of those. And the Factcheck man said that since then membership of Al Qaida has been estimated to have risen to 18,000. I wish the next time Bush says this 75% thing Kerry would come back "Ladies and gentlemen that translates as FIFTEEN people!".

[Stephanie]

15. FIFTEEN PEOPLE!

Incredible! Thanks for that.

And welcome to DU, diabhal. :hi:

[Disturbed]

16. 15 out of 18,000=75%

Now that is some FUZZY math!

[H2O Man]

20. I'm not sure if that was exactly what he said on CNN.

I didn't hear it clearly, but if that is what he said, it is an error in itself. For the best "scorecard" in this struggle, read pages 88 - 100 in "Imperial Hubris," by "Anonyymous" (CIA analyst Michael Schever). It has a long and detailed list that goes far beyond the 20.

The list is important for two reasons: first, we find that the vast majority of the terrorists that Bush speaks of come from Saudi Arabia; second, because Schever makes clear that while "(t)the victories scored ...are impressive" that Bush is "celebrating worthwhile but strategically inconsequential tactical victories." (pg 87)

[kodi]

17. don't ask bush that. it forces him to employ the deadly al - gebra

.

[Julien Sorel]

18. That's an arabic word. Bush doesn't know ayrabick.

[VOX]

21. Right. Al Qaida is a fixed, simple number that is simply subtracted from

How fuc*ing simplistic can The Chimp make this, and how fuc*ing gullible are Americans to swallow this crap?

Al Qaida is an abstraction -- crunching numbers on it is like trying to quantify smoke.

[matt819]

22. It's meaningless

Think about how many headlines you've seen saying that Hamas leaders were killed in an Israeli strike. With all the Hamas leaders killed, you'd think there would be no more. But they keep coming up. The 75% claim is equally meaningless. Leadership? Total numbers? Who comes up with the numbers? How? Where are these people? And how do they know that's who they're killing?

As much as I'd like to see Kerry dispute this, you end up discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. It's stupid, and the republicans know that, and they know equally well that forcing the dems to refute it will result in a truly absurd debate.

[Stephanie]

23. Someone needs to ask him the question.

Maybe not Kerry. But somebody has to.