All Quiet Along the Central Front
A State Department annual report on international terrorism released last Thursday trumpeted the fact that 2003 supposedly saw the fewest terrorist attacks in over 30 years.
According to Cofer Black, the State Department's counterterrorism czar, the decrease may be attributed to "unprecedented collaboration between the United States and foreign partners to defeat terrorism."
Sorry to dampen Mr. Black's enthusiasm, but the following should also be noted:
- The report counted 82 attacks against the United States in 2003, up from 77 attacks in 2002. Thus, anti-U.S. terrorism is up.
- The 2003 terrorism figure "did not include most of the attacks in Iraq, because attacks against combatants did not fit the U.S. definition of international terrorism."
- The report said the war in Iraq has turned that country into "a central battleground in the global war on terrorism," attracting participation by the likes of Ansar al-Islam, al Qaeda and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
So according to the report, "a central battleground in the global war on terrorism," a battleground with increased participation by foreign terrorists, is a battleground without terrorism.
Of course.
For war is peace.
12:46:14 AM 
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