State Department Releases New Terrorism Death Count, Corrects Flawed Data
by Guest Blogger, 6/25/2004
The State Department released drastically higher numbers for terrorism-related deaths June 22, after the administration used the original April report to claim the war on terrorism is succeeding. Government officials cited outdated computers and personnel shortages as the reasons for the flawed data, according to the Washington Post.
The
revised report identifies 625 deaths from terrorist attacks, more than double the original report's number of 307. The 1,593 injuries jumped to 3,646, "significant" incidents went up by five, and all incidents increased from 190 to 208.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent a letter May 17 to Secretary of State Colin Powell, pointing out the skewed data and questioning the report's integrity. The State Department acknowledged its inaccurate numbers June 10.
A spokesman for Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) claims the correction is "just the latest example of an administration playing fast and loose with the truth when it comes to the war on terror." The administration argues that the inaccurate report resulted from technical glitches and budget shortfalls. Once it knew of the errors, the administration corrected the report.
Before this year, the CIA compiled statistics on terrorist attacks. In 2003, President Bush transferred this duty to the Terrorist Threat Integration Center in order to produce more efficient and comprehensive reports on terrorism. By producing such flawed data for the global terror report, the new center does not seem to be fulfilling expectations.