Terrorism's Up, But Who's Counting?

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

For the first time in 20 years, the U.S. government will not be publishing Patterns of Global Terrorism, a Congressionally-mandated report from the U.S. Department of State intended to provide a full and complete record of countries and groups involved in international terrorism. Last year, the Bush administration was embarrassed when the report tallied 175 significant terrorist attacks - the highest number in two decades, contradicting the administration's claim that it is winning the war on terrorism. According to U.S. intelligence officials, this year's numbers are far worse - 625 attacks, or nearly four times the amount of last year's embarrassment. In a State Department briefing, spokesman Richard Boucher said the department plans to issue a different report, with the statistics omitted. The numbers would be released someday, Boucher said, but "I don't know when."

Main Source: 
Knight Ridder, April 15, 2005
Topics: 
Human Rights
International
War / Peace

Comments

bobinkc replied on

Unfortunately, the statute authorizing the report does not stipulate that the report be made public. So the administration can stay within the law by "publishing" the report and keeping it secret. Hopefully some enterprising media group will manage to get its hands on a copy and at least put the administration on the defensive about the effectiveness of its so-called "war on terror."

The annual report was once a serious policy tool, used by American and international governments to develop terrorism security policies. It was used as well by insurance and other industries for risk assessment and other types of business planning.

It was pressure from those groups that caused the administration to scrap the politicized version of last year's report and reissue a fact-based one. Realizing they cannot bamboozle serious institutions with a propgandized report, the administration has simply decided to keep the facts out of sight.

Disgusting.

Co-founder of Midwest Center for American Values, a new progressive policy think tank. http://www.midwestvalues.org