Terrorist activity tripled last year; US insisting it is winning the war on terror

@Robert Nicholson
That is rather sad. Interestingly this article was written before the London attacks.

@Robert White
> Well, you don’t expect them to officially state that we are losing the war on terror, do you?

But couldn’t they state the truth that the war is still on, we are making progress etc. instead of blatant lies?

> It seems obvious to us now that the Nazis could not overcome the military might of the Allies once the US joined the war. And in retrospect, we see that the US joined quite late. I would argue that the WTC, Madrid and Beslan massacres have shattered complacency and will ultimately enlist sleeping nations to ally against the terrorist threat.

I wish that were true. However violence normally adds to more violence. Look how Vietnam defended their soil against much mightier US army. Islamic fundamentalists do not have that strength as they not really fighting for any worthwhile cause. However they can continue to create troubles for a long long time. Look at the recent incidents in Delhi…

America is a Xenophobic society and as long as there is no attack on US Soil the Bush Administration’s spin machine will continue to claim they are winning the global war on terror.

Well, you don’t expect them to officially state that we are losing the war on terror, do you? Let’s not be naive.

As for the math, you failed to quote their rather plausible explanation (so I will):

”NCTC acting director John Brennan said the center used new methodology, statutory criteria and counting rules to capture the fresh statistics and that it was unfair to compare 2004 figures with previous years.

“An increased level of effort allowed a much deeper review of far more information and along with Iraq were the primary reasons for the significant growth in terrorist incidents being reported,” he said.

In Iraq, the number of terrorist incidents ballooned from 22 in 2003 to 201 last year.”

Looking at it from Al Queda’s perspective, the success of 9/11, the Madrid bombing and the Beslan school bombing must be tremendous morale boosters, not to mention recruitment boosters (for those sociopaths who are cheered by the death and destruction of other living souls). Beslan alone is recruiting poster material: “As a martyr to the cause, not only will you get to slaughter innocents, but schoolchildren as well”.

We learned as children that the European/American war against the Nazis (popularly misnamed a “world” war) ended in May 1945. But to the soldiers fighting during the winter of 1944-45, victory was uncertain. In truth, the destruction of all oil refineries in 1943 effectively doomed the Nazi regime, even before the successful invasion of France in the summer of 1944 sealed its fate. But how many innocents & combatants died before the Allies reached Berlin?

It seems obvious to us now that the Nazis could not overcome the military might of the Allies once the US joined the war. And in retrospect, we see that the US joined quite late. I would argue that the WTC, Madrid and Beslan massacres have shattered complacency and will ultimately enlist sleeping nations to ally against the terrorist threat. Moreover, the successful liberation of the Iraqi and Afghani peoples has probably inspired freedom (e.g. Lebanon) and peace (e.g. Kashmir) we would not have predicted even 3 months ago.