Triple Threat

Statistics on global terrorism were released today. Washington Post says that from 2003 to 2004, the number of incidents of significant terrorist acts (those resulting in casualties) tripled, 175 to 651, and the total death toll also tripled, from 625 to 1907. It's not straightforward though, because one reason for the increase--the reason the State Dep't refused to release this data (instead, the National Counterterrorism Center did, to avoid criticism it was withholding data)--was that the methodology had changed: specifically, the number of intelligence analysts assigned to compile and collect the data went from 3 part-timers to 10 full-timers.

Great. So what we now know is either (a) there has been a big increase in terrorist attacks, or (b) the government has been grossly underreporting terrorist activities for the past few years, because they weren't really trying. Or more likely some combination of both problems. Either way, one thing is clear: the good guys are not winning the war on terrorism. The blame should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the administration, which has spent over $200 Billion putting our troops in harm's way in Iraq, creating a hotbed of terrorist activity where none had previously existed, rather than using even a fraction of that money to increase security around the world.