Hannity: "We have 70 percent of Al Qaeda captured and on the run"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200510120010

Echoing misleading administration claim, Hannity said "we have 70 percent of Al Qaeda captured"

On the October 11 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, host Sean Hannity replayed a video clip from his September 30 debate with Democratic political strategist James Carville, in which Hannity repeated the misleading claim that the Bush administration " 70 percent of Al Qaeda capture and on the run." While Hannity made the claim to support his contention about the current progress of the administration's anti-terrorism campaign, the assertion appears to be based on a CIA estimate of the roughly 25 Al Qaeda leaders known as of September 11, 2001. As Media Matters for America has previously noted, however, Al Qaeda's next generation of terrorist leaders have gradually replaced the older set, limiting the figure's relevance as a current measure of U.S. success against the terrorist group.

Hannity's claim echoed a similar administration claim that "75 percent" of Al Qaeda leaders have been killed or captured; for instance, President Bush said that "three-quarters of Al Qaeda leaders have been brought to justice" during the third 2004 presidential debate. In fact, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice admitted to CNN on October 3, 2004, that the administration did not know how many leaders its 75 percent claim represented -- she placed it in the range of "tens to 100." At the time, CNN political analyst William Schneider noted that recent estimates said that Al Qaeda "may have as many as 18,000 potential operatives."

From the October 11 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, airing a part of the September 30 "Meeting of the Mouths 3" debate, which Fox News host Neil Cavuto moderated:

CAVUTO: Guys, guys, you know what?

CARVILLE: One more point here.

CAVUTO: Looking back is not going to do anyone any good.

HANNITY: First of all, in three years, Uday and Qusay are dead-ay. Saddam is about to be tried, convicted, and hung the way he deserves. We have 70 percent of Al Qaeda captured and on the run. We are winning the war on terror. It is a difficult job.

— R.S.K.

Posted to the web on Wednesday October 12, 2005 at 7:02 PM EST

[jedicord]

1. So are they captured or on the run?

Can't be both.

:eyes:

[Lasher]

2. Maybe they're running around in their cells (EOM)

[jedicord]

12. Or maybe they're captured and HAVE the runs. n/t

[dajoki]

15. or maybe they were captured BECAUSE they had the runs.

[Lasher]

19. Maybe the bird flu gave them runny noses.

[dajoki]

26. maybe raw chicken gave them runny asses

[Zenlitened]

3. Maybe he could share the AQ membership list with the rest of us...

... since he seems so intimately acquainted with the organization.

:crazy:

[gratuitous]

4. "We", Sean?

What is this "we" formulation? And what, specifically, have you done to help out for this "difficult job"?

[Contrary1]

27. As you know, most of the Repubs are doing their share of this

"difficult job" from here at home...as usual. They are emulating
our great and fearless "Bring it on" leader. Why change now?

[welshTerrier2]

5. we have 70% of the republicans captured or on the run ...

we are winning the war on terror too ...

[billybob537]

6. This is absurd

as usual they fail to do the math..
each muslim killed has an average of thirty relatives/ ten percent of these will be turned into terrorist if we kill the original terrorist. If we have killed 70% we now have 3x70% or 210% or 110% more terrorists.

Hi Beef

[rocktivity]

7. If they're not in custody or dead, they ARE on the run.

So while the 70 per cent number may be wrong, Sean is technically right. But who's his source? Probably the same "experts" who came up with:



:headbang:
rocknation

[pauldp]

8. That must be why things are so peaceful in Iraq.

Guess we can leave Iraq then and let Iraqi security take care of the rest.

[Drifter]

9. We probably have ...

captured or killed a number that represents 70% of pre-911 Al-Qaeda numbers.

What they don't tell you is that post-911 Al-Qaeda numbers have increased 10000%. That of course makes the 70% number negligible.

Either way, they are recruiting at a pace much faster than we are gettin 'em.

Cheers
Drifter

[Sallow]

10. Hannity and his followers are sort of delusional.

I post at Hannity.com and let me tell you..alot of them are delusional. So much so, they are scary. When Hannity says something like this..it's sort of like saying more people are employed today then anytime in history which would be true because the population is larger. I have seen way nutty posts like - Socialism and Fascism are the same, ID and Evolution are both unproven scientific theories that should be taught along side each other, and my fave - Nuke Hurricane Rita.

[jeff30997]

11. Talibans on the run ! Talibaaans on the run !

[underpants]

13. LOL having stopped listening to his radio show and TV show

A little Hannity out of the blue is hilarious. It is amazing that listening to them actually makes you feel that people like him have any credibility or should be taken seriously.

[davidinalameda]

14. so where's bin Laden

I figure that he would be the one that we would want the most

right???

:shrug:

[dave29]

16. "and there's a 5% chance of that"

n/t

[dbeach]

17. the remaining 30% being in Wash CD

reportedly to be wearing 3 piece blue striped suits and asnwering to the name of.....

[thecodewarrior]

18. No its

We have 70% of the blood thirsty Xtian warmongers discredited and on the run..

Hannity is a traitor that supports warmongering and genocide, fuck him, he's a POS.

[MrBenchley]

20. The fuehrer will emerge from the bunker more popular than ever

and lead the reich to glorious victory...never mind that shot you just heard....

[hadrons]

21. so we're winning because Cavuto and Hannity say so???

ok :eyes:

[stopbush]

22. Al Qaeda members punch a clock every day.

That's how we know 70% of them have been captured...or laid off...

[cassiepriam]

23. What a relief. I can sleep tonight.

[kentuck]

24. Obviously Sean has some inside information...?

Otherwise, how would he know such a statistic? Maybe the WHIG is leaking information to him? Or is he another one of those "reporters", like Armstrong Williams, who is on the White House payroll?

[PurityOfEssence]

25. 83.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

(Not this one, of course...)

I love the way these idiots tacitly claim to know everything about this organization and about the insurgency, yet they can't really do anything material to stop them other than continually killing and capturing the number two people.

To make such a statement is to say one knows how big the organization is, and even if it were a formal and structured organization with a specific number of people, instead of the loose confederation of the hardcore that's supplemented here and there by associates, claiming to know the number is just pure crap.