Terror Errors

Last week, President Bush said, "Federal terrorism investigations have resulted in charges against more than 400 suspects, and more than half of those charged have been convicted." But independent analyses contradict those numbers. The Washington Post reports that their analysis of Justice Department records showed that "39 people - not 200, as officials have implied - were convicted of crimes related to terrorism or national security." The Post found "no demonstrated connection to terrorism or terrorist groups for 180" of those charged in conjunction with post-9/11 terror investigations. "A large number of people appear to have been swept into U.S. counterterrorism investigations by chance ... and have remained classified as terrorism defendants years after being cleared of connections to extremist groups," wrote the Post. The paper's findings are similar to earlier New York University and Syracuse University studies.