Patterns of Global Terror 2006

I normally refrain from political commentary here, but it's hard to ignore the ramifications of the 2006 Country Reports on Terrorism. According to the U.S. State Department, 20,498 people were killed in terrorist attacks worldwide. In 2001, the year of the September 11 attacks, that figure was 3,547 (based on an overly high estimate of 9/11 fatalities).

The numbers are even less forgiving on close analysis. Excluding September 11, the death toll in 2001 was 547. In 2002, prior to the invasion of Iraq, the total was 725. Excluding Iraq, the 2006 death toll was 7,158.

So when you subtract the two factors that most skew the comparison, global terrorism was still 13 times higher in 2006 than in 2001, and nearly 10 times higher than before the invasion of Iraq.

There can be no question now that U.S. policy has utterly failed to make the world safer, and that the West has made no headway in the "War on Terrorism." Terrorism is now far more deadly and widespread than it was on Sept. 12, 2001.

The Bush Administration's own statistics indict its policy. A major change in course is needed. Now.

Read the full report

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Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink