Is Ashcroft overstating the success of his terror war? A new study of post-9/11 terrorism prosecutions, Criminal Enforcement Against Terrorists and Spies in the Year After the 9/11 Attacks shows that the cases often fizzle:

About 6,400 people were referred by investigators for criminal charges involving terror in the two years after the attacks, but fewer than one-third actually were charged and only 879 were convicted, according to government records reviewed by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

The median prison sentence was just 14 days, according to a study by clearinghouse co-directors David Burnham and Susan P. Long. Only five people were sentenced to 20 years or more.

Critics seized on the numbers to question whether Attorney General John Ashcroft and other top law enforcement officials have been overstating the success of their anti-terrorism efforts.