« Beating Our Own | Main | Ann Coulter is Really, Really, REALLY Dumb »

June 9, 2004
Up With Terrorism
WASHINGTON -- The State Department is scrambling to revise its annual report on global terrorism to acknowledge that it understated the number of deadly attacks in 2003, amid charges that the document is inaccurate and was politically manipulated by the Bush administration.

When the most recent "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report was issued April 29, senior Bush administration officials immediately hailed it as objective proof that they were winning the war on terrorism. The report is considered the authoritative yardstick of the prevalence of terrorist activity around the world.

"Indeed, you will find in these pages clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight" against global terrorism, Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage said during a celebratory rollout of the report.

But on Tuesday, State Department officials said they underreported the number of terrorist attacks in the tally for 2003, and added that they expected to release an updated version soon.

Several U.S. officials and terrorism experts familiar with that revision effort said the new report will show that the number of significant terrorist incidents increased last year, perhaps to its highest level in 20 years.

L.A. Times via Yahoo News

The original report of the report claimed that terrorist attacks were at the lowest level in 34 years. Highest level in 20 years, lowest level in 34 years. Wow, that's some seriously ambitious lying!

The story gets more ridiculous as it goes on. A "senior official" claimed the errors were "clerical." They stopped counting terrorist attacks on November 11, yet issued a report on data for the entire year, an absurdity a State Department official blamed on a "printing deadline."

Did the printing deadline also require them not to mention that by ending their count almost 2 months early they failed to include several major terrorist attacks, "including bombings of two synagogues, a bank and the British Consulate in Turkey that killed 62 and injured more than 700?"

There's more. It's so unbelievable I can't even stand it.

Comments

Previous Comments