By Arshad Mohammed
(Reuters)
WASHINGTON -- The State Department said on Thursday its April 29 report that the number of international "terrorist" attacks and resulting deaths fell last year was wrong and both figures had in fact risen.
The admission dented the claim by some U.S. officials that the report provided evidence that Washington was winning the "war on terrorism," whose success is critical to President Bush's reelection strategy.
The department's "Patterns of Global Terrorism Report" said "terrorist" attacks fell to 190 last year, their lowest since 1969, from 198 in 2002. It also said those killed dropped to 307, including 35 U.S. citizens, from 725 in 2002, including 27 Americans.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said both totals were understated because of errors in compiling the data by the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. The interagency group was set up last year to address the failure of U.S. intelligence agencies to uncover the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in advance.
Boucher told reporters the terrorism experts appeared to have made a series of mistakes, failing to count attacks for the full year and possibly misinterpreting the definition of such attacks to exclude incidents included in the past.
"The data in the report are incomplete and in some cases incorrect," he said, admitting his department failed to catch the mistakes. "We got the wrong data and we didn't check it enough ... That's the simplest explanation for what happened."
Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was "very disturbed" that errors had made it into the report but denied the numbers were manipulated for political benefit.
When the report was released, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said it provided "clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight" while State Department coordinator for counterterrorism Cofer Black hailed its "good news."
Boucher said the department learned of the report's errors in the first week of May and began an investigation. He said a May 17 letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat and frequent critic of the administration, spurred its efforts.
He said the State Department asked the Terrorist Threat Integration Center to review the numbers. Preliminary indications were that it would show a sharp increase over the previous year in incidents and resulting deaths.
A senior State Department official later played down his remarks, saying although the number of deaths would be above 2002's level it may not be a sharp increase.
One U.S. official who asked not to be named said the report's errors included a failure to count "international terrorist attacks" that occurred after Nov. 11, 2003.
"I am very disturbed that there were errors in the report," Powell told reporters. "We're going to correct it."
"It was a combination of errors both at the new Terrorist Threat (Integration) Center as they were transitioning into the job and building their organization and errors crept into the report that frankly we didn't catch over here," he added.
Asked if the numbers were manipulated to make the administration look good, Powell said: "Of course not."
(Reuters)
WASHINGTON -- The State Department said on Thursday its April 29 report that the number of international "terrorist" attacks and resulting deaths fell last year was wrong and both figures had in fact risen.
The admission dented the claim by some U.S. officials that the report provided evidence that Washington was winning the "war on terrorism," whose success is critical to President Bush's reelection strategy.
The department's "Patterns of Global Terrorism Report" said "terrorist" attacks fell to 190 last year, their lowest since 1969, from 198 in 2002. It also said those killed dropped to 307, including 35 U.S. citizens, from 725 in 2002, including 27 Americans.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said both totals were understated because of errors in compiling the data by the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. The interagency group was set up last year to address the failure of U.S. intelligence agencies to uncover the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in advance.
Boucher told reporters the terrorism experts appeared to have made a series of mistakes, failing to count attacks for the full year and possibly misinterpreting the definition of such attacks to exclude incidents included in the past.
"The data in the report are incomplete and in some cases incorrect," he said, admitting his department failed to catch the mistakes. "We got the wrong data and we didn't check it enough ... That's the simplest explanation for what happened."
Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was "very disturbed" that errors had made it into the report but denied the numbers were manipulated for political benefit.
When the report was released, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said it provided "clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight" while State Department coordinator for counterterrorism Cofer Black hailed its "good news."
Boucher said the department learned of the report's errors in the first week of May and began an investigation. He said a May 17 letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat and frequent critic of the administration, spurred its efforts.
He said the State Department asked the Terrorist Threat Integration Center to review the numbers. Preliminary indications were that it would show a sharp increase over the previous year in incidents and resulting deaths.
A senior State Department official later played down his remarks, saying although the number of deaths would be above 2002's level it may not be a sharp increase.
One U.S. official who asked not to be named said the report's errors included a failure to count "international terrorist attacks" that occurred after Nov. 11, 2003.
"I am very disturbed that there were errors in the report," Powell told reporters. "We're going to correct it."
"It was a combination of errors both at the new Terrorist Threat (Integration) Center as they were transitioning into the job and building their organization and errors crept into the report that frankly we didn't catch over here," he added.
Asked if the numbers were manipulated to make the administration look good, Powell said: "Of course not."
