Terrorism Increases Are Damning Indictment of W's WOT

The State Department issued it's annual assessment of terrorism as the 2d of this week's Friday Surprises, and it shows another increase in terrorist attacks.

The number of terrorist attacks worldwide increased nearly fourfold in 2005 to 11,111, with strikes in Iraq accounting for 30 percent of the total, according to statistics released by U.S. counterterrorism officials yesterday.

This shows the trend continuing, as terrorist attacks have been increasing, casting serious doubt on the effectiveness of W's WOT. In fact, the invasion of Iraq has caused terrorist attacks to increase from 175 in 2003 to the 2005 total of 11,111. In 2004, they increased to 625. Condi Rice found that increase to be so embarrassing that she took immediate action:

The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.

It is not clear why the report was again issued, but it appears that the Bush Administration's attempt to hide bad news of pathetic results rather than tell us about it somehow was reversed.

W and Darth Cheney have reported that we are winning the WOT and Iraq wars, and even that the insurgency in Iraq is in its last throes; this report appears to mock their Pollyannaism:

But in Iraq, [the number of "high fatality incidents"]-- defined as those resulting in 10 or more deaths -- increased from 65 to 150, with a doubling of fatalities. Overall, there were 3,500 attacks in Iraq, up from 866 in 2004.

So, was there any good news, to back up W's rosy statements of his success in the WOT? Well, no. In fact, the Bush Administration reported that terrorism has metastasized, making it more difficult to fight:

But "2005 saw many attacks perpetrated by relatively unskilled operatives." The State Department report noted an increase in "small, autonomous cells and individuals [that] drew on advanced technologies and the tools of globalization such as the Internet, satellite communications, and international commerce."
These "micro-actors," the report said, "were extremely difficult to detect or counter." Increasing use of the Internet among individuals and small groups disposed to terrorist acts, such as last July's suicide bombings in the London transport system, no longer requires central leadership or on-the-ground training.

This appalling record is somewhat tempered by the news that, after years of fuzzy math, the Bush Administration is getting better at counting:

In addition to those trends, NCTC Deputy Director Russ Travers offered three reasons for the significant statistical increases in both attacks and fatalities. The 2004 report was initially assembled under a narrower definition of terrorism, confined to attacks involving citizens or territory of more than one country. In July, NCTC released revised 2004 figures compiled under the new definition, Travers said, but the hurried nature of the work and a lack of analysts at the then-fledgling NCTC meant that "we missed thousands of incidents."

So, do you believe W's claims that we are 'winning' the WOT, or do you believe the government's stat.s?