June 09, 2004
Bush Administration Finds Report Terrifying
The bad news for the Bush administration doesn't stop (and neither do their efforts to hide the truth about it.)
"Indeed, you will find in these pages clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight" against global terrorism, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said during a celebratory rollout of the report. But on Tuesday, State Department officials said they underreported the number of terrorist attacks in the report on 2003, and added that they expected to release an updated version soon. Several U.S. officials and terrorism experts familiar with that revision effort said the new report could well show that the number of significant terrorist incidents actually increased last year, perhaps to its highest level in 20 years. "It will change the numbers," said one State Department official who declined to comment further or be identified by name. "The incidents will go up, but I don't know by how many."
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I see the spectre of more terrorism helping to galvanize support for Bush & Co and our esteemed defense establishment. I'm guessing this revelation won't change the undercurrent of opinion.
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wow. the LA Times and Waxman. whowould'vethunkit.
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Yup. Doubt this'll change much.
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Current Terror Alert Level - I'd post the image, but not sure if that's kosher.
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Images don't work:
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I see the spectre of more terrorism helping to galvanize support for Bush & Co and our esteemed defense establishment. I'm guessing this revelation won't change the undercurrent of opinion. Agreed. Whether the report was fudged, I don't know. But it seems pretty stupid for both the administration and its critics to try to prove their points based on this report when terrorism in places like Israel, Spain, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia is largely out of our control. If the report specifically dealt with attacks on Americans and American interests (including Iraq), that would be a different story.
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"Is the United States winning the war on terror? Not according to more than 100 of America’s top foreign-policy hands. They see a national security apparatus in disrepair and a government that is failing to protect the public from the next attack."