‘Of that 25 million people, the best intelligence estimates - both U.S. and international agencies - place the number of Iraq's insurgent forces at approximately 20,000 combatants. Every - not some, not a few, not most...every - domestic and international intelligence analysis has determined that the 20,000-strong Iraq insurgency is comprised of approximately two-to-five percent of foreign fighters.

Understand, these are numbers that have NEVER been disputed ... not even by Dick Cheney. Remember, Cheney was the guy who had completely deluded himself into believing everything was going so well in Iraq that he claimed, two years ago, that the insurgency was in its last throes. Not even a person suffering from self-delusion of Cheney's magnitude, has questioned the statistics cited above.

The point is this: Two-to-five percent of 20,000 means that at any onetime, there have only ever been between 400 and 1,000 foreign fighters in Iraq. Realistically speaking, most of the foreigners fighting in Iraq probably migrated there on their own. That is to say, they're just a bunch of guys with hopes of finally getting their chance to take some shots at Americans. But, giving the Bush administration and the new military command, Petraeus et al, the benefit of the doubt, let's consider all 400 to 1,000 foreigners in Iraq to be part of al Qaeda. Let's be very generous, eh? Let's give "Mister 26 Percent President" every advantage.’

al Qaeda In Mesopotamia': The Numbers Just Don't Add Up