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Terrorism Incidents Rose Sharply Last Year
The number of serious terrorism incidents worldwide more than tripled last year, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, April 19). The number of “significant” incidents was counted at 655 for 2004 — a marked increase from a record of roughly 175 the previous year, according to congressional aides who were briefed on the statistics. The State Department this year does not plan to include figures on terror attacks in its annual Patterns of Global Terrorism report, which is due by Saturday. The new U.S. National Counterterrorism Center is expected to add the statistics at a later date. Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) urged Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a letter to include the data in the report, saying that “the large increases in terrorist attacks reported in 2004 may undermine administration claims of success in the war on terror, but political inconvenience has never been a legitimate basis for withholding facts from the American people.” Bush administration officials said the apparent increase was the result of more inclusive methodology in counting incidents, sources said. The State Department’s acting counterterrorism chief, Karen Aguilar, said the statistics are not relevant to the report and that Rice withheld them on the advice of her counselor, Philip Zelikow, according to congressional aides who attended a private briefing with Aguilar on Monday. Aides to members of both political parties criticized the explanation. “It’s absurd to issue a report without statistics,” said GOP aide. “This is a self-inflicted wound by the State Department” (Susan Glasser, Washington Post, April 27).
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