Terrorism not declining...

[elwoodblues]

I just read this (linked from Drudge).

[ QUOTE ]
The State Department acknowledged Thursday it was wrong in reporting terrorism declined worldwide last year, a finding used to boost one of President Bush's chief foreign policy claims - success in countering terror.

Instead, both the number of incidents and the toll in victims increased sharply, the department said...


[/ QUOTE ]

Full article:
Article (http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040611/D834H3VG0.html)

[GWB]

Putin Takes Bush's Side Against Democrats (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&ncid=696&e=7&u=/nm/20040611/pl_nm/campaign_putin_dc)

[elwoodblues]

Well if Putin agrees with Bush, then I guess it's okay that they sold the public on the false notion that worldwide terrorism was decreasing.

[GWB]

We can only do so much against terrorism, after all the terrorists don't stop just because we want them to.

At least I am fighting them, the Dems would have us just give up.

[elwoodblues]

I'm not saying that we should already expect a decline in terrorism. I just expect that the administration doesn't make sh*t up and tell us that there is a decline in terrorism when they have no clue whether there is or isn't.

[GWB]

Why must we assume it is deliberate misinformation?

They adjust government figures all the time, but only if one has a predisposition to dislike the administration does one assume a dastardly misinformation campaign.

[elwoodblues]

You don't have to assume it was dastardy misinformation (I don't) to be pissed off about it. That statistic was widely used to "prove" that the war on terror was working. It's one of those bits of information that was so widely disseminated that you can't really unring the bell now by providing the truth.

The other thing that you should be mad about is that we still don't know the correct information. Terrorism might be decreasing, it might be increasing. We don't know. Doesn't it anger you just a bit that the department of homeland security doesn't have correct information on this readily available? It angers me.

[GWB]

[ QUOTE ]
Doesn't it anger you just a bit that the department of homeland security doesn't have correct information on this readily available?

[/ QUOTE ]

It would anger me more to find out that the Department was wasting resources trying to get a statistic down to 3 decimal points, rather than focusing on stopping the next terrorist attack.

[elwoodblues]

[ QUOTE ]
It would anger me more to find out that the Department was wasting resources trying to get a statistic down to 3 decimal points

[/ QUOTE ]

That might anger me too, unfortunately that's not what was at issue here. What was at issue here was that the original numbers didn't include all of 2003 and the report showed a "virtual disappearance of attacks in which no one died."

The more you try to spin this, the more it appears that you favor a misinformed electorate.

[Cyrus]

"Putin Takes Bush's Side Against Democrats."

Yeah, right. What a strong witness for the defense!

Putin is currently putting down (for the umpteenth time) the rebellion in Chechnya. Gorbachev mishandled it, Yeltsin mishandled it, and Putin will mishandle it.

So as long as the West, with the U.S. most prominently, is willing to call the Chechens' struggle a "terrorist act", the man in charge of Russia will be singing whatever song the White House wants to hear about terrorism.

(But not about Iraq!)

[Zeno]

There is no way to accurately measure terrorism or terrorist attacks, just as there is no way to accurately measure 'hate crime' or other such nebulous concepts that can have a sliding scale or different definitions depending on the politics or particular hatreds of the hour. Were the authorities in charge of the Spanish Inquisition terrorists? The people involved in St. Bartholomew’s massacre? Let's all do some deconstruction or reconstruction or reinventing or whatever suits our fancy to make the most political points for the day.

-Zeno

[elwoodblues]

If there isn't a way to accurately measure terrorist attacks then the white house shouldn't be making claims that the number of terrorist attacks are declining world wide as a result of their policies.

[DoggSnott]

get rid of the flag pal...

the U.S. is doing the right thing, but by the end of it, it is going to be a fuckking mess