At the daily briefing by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan
on December 8, 2003 a reporter asked about the President's views
on TRAC's new report documenting the nuts and bolts of the Bush
Administration's terrorism enforcement efforts since 9/11/01 --
a very large increase in prosecutions but only a handful of cases
where the convicted individuals received significant sentences.
(Also weighing in was the Justice Department and the FBI.) McClellan's
initial response was a broad claim that "the United States
is winning the war on terrorism with unrelenting focus and unprecedented
cooperation." Questioned further, the press secretary said
the very large number of prosecutions -- even while resulting
in minimum sentences -- was valuable because it forced those caught
in the net to provide "critical intelligence about al Qaeda
and other terrorist groups."
White House
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