Where is the line between misleading and lying crossed? Today's
Washington Post compares the claims by the Bush administration about convictions for terrorism with...well, with reality:
Flanked by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, Bush said that "federal terrorism investigations have resulted in charges against more than 400 suspects, and more than half of those charged have been convicted."
Those statistics have been used repeatedly by Bush and other administration officials...
So there has been over 200 terrorist-related convictions? You mean we're winning the war on terror? Not quite...the reality?
An analysis of the Justice Department's own list of terrorism prosecutions by The Washington Post shows that 39 people -- not 200, as officials have implied -- were convicted of crimes related to terrorism or national security.
I'd say the line is crossed.
More...
The reality (there's that word again) is that most of convictions were related to violating immigration law, and didn't have anything to do with terrorism. The Post charitably says:
Taken as a whole, the data indicate that the government's effort to identify terrorists in the United States has been less successful than authorities have often suggested.
Less successful indeed. The administration has been shamelessly padding the numbers:
The list obtained by The Post includes 361 cases defined as terrorism investigations by the department's criminal division from Sept. 11, 2001, through late September 2004. [...]
The Post identified 180 cases in which no connection to al Qaeda or another terrorist group could be found in court records, official statements, the 9/11 commission report or news accounts. Even some of the terrorism-related cases featured early allegations of terrorist connections that were later dropped.
Of the 142 individuals on the list linked to terrorist groups, 39 were convicted of crimes related to terrorism or national security. More than a dozen defendants were acquitted or had their charges dismissed/ [...]
Only 14 of those convicted of crimes related to terrorism or national security have clear links to bin Laden's network, most notably Moussaoui and Reid.
Those are the facts...but Bush & company continue to claim that,
"federal terrorism investigations have resulted in charges against more than 400 suspects, and more than half of those charged have been convicted."
That isn't rhetoric...that isn't spin. It's a flat-out lie to "prove" we're winning the mythical war on terror.