Wednesday, June 23, 2004


Yahoo! News - U.S. Amends Report to Show Rise in Terror
WASHINGTON - Significant acts of terror worldwide reached a 21-year high in 2003, the State Department announced Tuesday as it corrected a mistaken report that had been cited to boost President Bush's war on terror.

Incidents of terrorism increased slightly during the year, and the number of people wounded rose dramatically, the department said. J. Cofer Black, who heads the department's counterterrorism office, said the report, even as revised, showed "we have made significant progress" in the campaign against international terror.

How so, J?

The corrected report shows that the Bush administration is "playing fast and loose with the truth when it comes to the war on terror," said Phil Singer, spokesman for Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign. The administration "has now been caught trying to inflate its success on terrorism," he said.

What?!? The Bush administration misleading the public? Say it ain't so!

In all, the department recorded 208 incidents of terror last year, compared with 205 in 2002.

There were 175 "significant events" in 2003, which Black said was the highest number since 1982.