I’m losing track. Six months back, we had captured or killed the #3 man in al Qaeda for the sixth time. But now word is out that not only is the 7th #3 man down, but at least one, and maybe as many as three more of “Al Qaeda’s #3 man” is pushing up daisies. My prior list had: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, Abu Hamza Rabia, Abu Zubaydah, Abdul Hadi Al-Iraqi, and Mohammad Atef; and, at that time, Saif al-Adel was still at large.

But now, Steve Benen at Political Animal says that Saif al-Adel is one of the ex-#3 men, and adds two more names–Mohammed Sheikh Mohammed and someone code-named “C-2” to the list–along with a brand-new #3 man, Abu Laith al-Libi, who is now also dead.

I count ten so far, not counting whoever just inherited the #3 parking space. Benen says it best: “You’d think, after a while, al Qaeda’s #4 guys would stop seeking promotions.” Indeed.

As I pointed out last July, this whole “We Got al Qaeda’s #3 Man” game is wearing thin. Al Qaeda apparently has an inexhaustible supply of #3 men. The farce is in the fact that the whole thing is repeated again and again–which only shows that either the U.S. government is exaggerating the importance of the people they’re taking out, or that terror organizations are not hurt by the loss of “important” leaders. And the continuing line of #3 men walking into the grinder just emphasizes that the #1 man–bin Laden–is still evading capture.

But hey, John McCain has a secret plan to capture bin Laden. It’s one of those things that he can’t tell us about or else bin Laden will get wise. But apparently he’s also willing to keep it a secret from the U.S. government, and–as the Carpetbagger points out–seems willing to allow bin Laden to stay free for another year until McCain takes power, and then he’ll unleash his secret plan.

How very Nixonesque of him.