"(Thanks to commenter MrShy for story idea.)"

They like me.... they reeeeeally like me!!!

- Sally Field (Mr. Shy) at the Oscars (NB.com) :p

Thanks Matthew, for spotting my post and for the credit! :) (I'm tickled pink, as I'm a newbie here...) and wow, I did indeed post a follow-up on how it seemed that many regions/continents were indeed quieter terror-attack wise in the past 2-3 years or so... from just my own reflecting, as, of course, the MSM just beats the daily drum on how we are "less safe now"... and now to see these numbers... wow.... thx again for the in-depth research on the state dept data!

and NO, we will not hold our breath to even see this reported on the 58th or 59th minute of, oh, let's say, The Situation Room...

A clear example of how the MSM consciously chooses to slant their stories so that the impression is made with the reader, in this case, that there has been no progress in the WOT.  This piece could just as easily have been presented with a very upbeat and positive view, stating the FACTS that terror incidents have actually gone down, and that the President's efforts to focus the WOT in Iraq are succeeding. 

Notice how the attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan are never called terrorist attacks by the MSM when they occur? They are always called "insurgent attacks". But they have no problem in classifiying them as terrorism when reporting on a story of "world wide" terrorism.

Iraq and Afghanistan  account for about  50% of the increase.  The remaining 50% increase is outside of Iraq and Afghanistan.  Also, the report does not list any 2006 state-sponsered terrorirsts acts of  North Korea - per the February 2007 Framework agreement.

Simply astonishing.  According to the AP’s coverage of the State Department’s annual terrorism survey, there were 3,185 more terrorist attacks this year than last, an increase of a mind-blowing 28.5%, with most of the increases taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan.  “Those strikes claimed a total of 20,498 lives, 13,340 of them in Iraq – up by 5,800 –, or 40.2 percent, over last year, it said.”  (snip)  “Afghanistan had 749 strikes in 2006, a 50 percent rise over 2005, according to the report.  However, it also detailed a surge in Africa, where 420 attacks – compared with 253 in 2005 – were counted last year ...”

Yet Mathew Sheffield sees a silver lining in this utterly grim report:

“Once you get past the lede of these Reuters and Associated Press pieces, you'll discover the small detail that the increase in terrorism was almost entirely due to Iraq.”

 Wrong, Mathew.  You overlooked Afganistan and Africa.

 “Nowhere in either piece do you learn the fact that aside from the Middle East (which does not include Afghanistan according to State), the number of terrorist attacks worldwide is down from a year ago by over 300 incidents.” 

Huh?  Worldwide terror attacks are UP BY 3,185, not down by 300!  Get your facts straight!!

 “The number of deaths from terrorism was only up 14 percent.”

Wrong again, Mathew.  The deaths from terrorism os up by 40.2 percent since last year.

So, ‘splain this to me again, Mathew.  How has Bush’s war on terror reduced terrorism worldwide?  How do you see a silver lining in his failed efforts with terrorism creating a surge of terroristic acts over 28% in one single year with the death toll up over 40%?  Jeesh.  Strikes me you need some book learnin’ in statistics, either that or a crash course in ethics in journalism.

Regards, Dave High

Children:

take seats and be silent!!!

has any one of you happened to think that we have these "insurgents" precisely where we want them.

they are setting off their bombs in a foriegn country, not on garden grove boulavard in orange county, calefornia United States of America,

they are shooting, bombing etc. etc. etc soldiers, sailors, airforce and marines. young american citizens who are in the prime of life and therefore much more able and willing to conduct extreme attitude adjustments on the unhappy types. Young american citizens whose sense of duty, honor and courage far outstrips their opponents.

these ssa&m are equiped with "stuff" that gives them a really good chance in any exchange of ideas and attitude with these fanatics. they can in actuality perform extreme attitude adjustment therapy anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours.

if one of the ssa&m happen to fall on the field he/she stands a very good chance of living to tell the tale. (if the current advesary is so superior in religeon and science why don't we see any of thier extreme wounded returning to society.)     

so:

we picked a place where a festered rectum was killing off large percentages of the population just because he felt like it. was torturing large percentages of the population for very strange reasons.   had a police system set up that paid the staff according to arrest and conviction irregardless of guilt or innocence. was assasinating people in foriegn countrys for excercising freedom of speech. was imprisioning children for the beliefs of their parents (and in the process added to the english language the term "Childrens Prison") and, in the process extremely encouraging the children to spy on the parents.

(Any one asking for links to this stuff simply needs to check the evening news for the last six years.)

what George Bush is doing is in actuality ambushing the terrorists.

he has set up a situation where the suicidal fanatics transport themselves to a remote place in the world, announce their presence by shooting at our people,(so that by our idiotic rules of engagement we are allowed to shoot them)  thereby managing to commit suicide so that they may not fight again another day, ensure that the vast majority of thier group is young, inexperienced, and dumb.  etc. etc. etc.

take ten , smoke if you got em.

c 

The argument that Bush has made Iraq the central front in the "war on terror" is ridiculous.  Give me some concrete evidence that a war half a world away is somehow affecting the actions of Argentinian and Peruvian bombers, and then we'll talk.  We will never defeat terrorism, a tactic used by the crazed and homicidal, by sheer force of arms.  All this war has done is increase unrest in the Middle East and hatred of the U.S. in the Muslim world.  Last time I checked, that wasn't cause for celebration.