In April, 2004, The State Department released its annual Patterns of Global Terrorism detailing a decline in international terrorism in 2003. Administration officials called the data “clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight” against terror and “an indication of the great progress that has been made in fighting terrorism.”
Rep. Waxman wrote Secretary of State Powell about the appearance that the decline in terrorism detailed in the report resulted from manipulation of data, not an actual decline in terrorist incidents. The State Department later issued revised data for the annual report which showed a major increase in deaths and injuries from terrorist attacks in 2003, with “significant” attacks having reached a 20-year high in that year.
New data from the National Counterterrorism Center shows that terrorist attacks have increased exponentially in the three years since the United States invaded Iraq.
In a letter to Secretary of State Rice, Rep. Waxman questions why Administration officials are refusing to acknowledge a significant rise in worldwide terrorist attacks, despite new reports from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, three independent organizations, and the Administration's own data.
The 2004 data dropped from the State Department's annual Patterns of Global Terrorism Report shows that global terror attacks were more than three times higher than the record levels set in 2003, with large increases in attacks occurring in Iraq, Afghanistan, India/Pakistan, and other regions.
Rep. Waxman asks the State Department Inspector General to examine the decision of Secretary Rice to drop the data on the number of international terrorist attacks from the Department's annual report on patterns of global terrorism.
New data, released by the State Department to correct serious mistakes in the initial Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003 report, shows a major increase in deaths and injuries in terrorist attacks in 2003, with “significant” attacks reaching a 20-year high.
Rep. Waxman criticizes the Patterns of Global Terrorism report for claiming that terrorism reached a record low in 2003 when the underlying data shows that significant terrorist activity was actually at a 20-year high.
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