WASHINGTON, April 30, 2007
Report: Terror Attacks Up 25% In 2006
State Department Says Iraq Had Biggest Spike, Iran Biggest Terror Supporter
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Play CBS Video Video U.K. Convicts Terror Suspects A massive domestic surveillance operation in Britain led to the conviction of five suspects, all born in England, for conspiring to commit acts of terrorism. Sheila MacVicar reports.
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Video Terror Attacks Increasing Figures compiled by the National Counter Terrorism Center say there were more than 14,000 terrorist attacks in 2006, up 25 percent from the year before. David Martin reports.
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(AP / CBS)
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Special Report War On Terror Complete coverage of the military's battle against terrorism.
Iran remains the biggest supporter of terrorism around the world, with elements of its government backing groups throughout the Middle East, particularly in Iraq, the report said.
In its annual global survey of terrorism released Monday, the State Department says about 14,000 attacks took place in 2006, mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan. These strikes claimed more than 20,000 lives — two-thirds in Iraq. That is 3,000 more attacks than in 2005 and 5,800 more deaths.
Altogether, 40 percent more people were killed by increasingly lethal means around the globe.
The report claims tighter border controls have limited the movement of terrorists, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. But al Qaeda is changing its tactics.
Instead of infiltrating teams like the 9/11 hijackers into a country, it now relies on homegrown terrorists for operations like the London Heathrow bomb plot against airliners, adds Martin.
In Iraq, the use of chemical weapons, seen for the first time in a Nov. 23, 2006, attack in Sadr City, also "signaled a dangerous strategic shift in tactics," it says.
With the rise in fatalities, the number of injuries from terrorist attacks also rose, by 54 percent, between 2005 and 2006, with a doubling in the number wounded in Iraq over the period, according to the department's Country Reports on Terrorism 2006.
The numbers were compiled by the National Counterterrorism Center and refer to deaths and injuries sustained by "non-combatants," with significant increases in attacks targeting children, educators and journalists.
"By far the largest number of reported terrorist incidents occurred in the Near East and South Asia," says the 335-page report, referring to the regions where Iraq and Afghanistan are located.
"These two regions also were the locations for 90 percent of all the 290 high-casualty attacks that killed 10 or more people," says the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its official release.
The report says 6,600, or 45 percent, of the attacks took place in Iraq, killing about 13,000 people, or 65 percent of the worldwide total of terrorist-related deaths in 2006. Kidnappings by terrorists soared 300 percent in Iraq over 2005.
Afghanistan had 749 strikes in 2006, a 50 percent rise from 2005 when 491 attacks were tallied, according to the report.
However, the report also details a surge in Africa, where 65 percent more attacks, 420 compared with 253 in 2005, were counted last year, largely due to turmoil in or near Sudan, including Darfur, and Nigeria where oil facilities and workers have been targeted.
As in previous years, the 2006 report identifies Iran as the "most active state sponsor" of terror, accusing the Islamic Republic of helping plan and foment attacks to destabilize Iraq and derail Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
Although the designation is not new, it appears in the report that is being released as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prepares to attend a conference of Iraq's neighbors, at which she has not ruled out a meeting with Iran's foreign minister.
The report says that terrorists continue to rely mainly on conventional weapons in their attacks, but noted no let up in an alarming trend toward more sophisticated and better planned and coordinated strikes.
For instance, while the number of bombings increased by 30 percent between 2005 and 2006, the death tolls from these incidents rose by 39 percent and the number of injuries rose by 45 percent, it says.
Of the 58,000 people killed or wounded in terrorist attacks around the world in 2006, more than 50 percent were Muslims, the report says, with government officials, police and security guards accounting for a large proportion.
The number of child casualties from terrorist attacks soared by more than 80 percent between 2005 and 2006 to more than 1,800, while incidents involving educators were up more than 45 percent and those involving journalists up 20 percent, the report says.
Twenty-eight U.S. citizens were killed and 27 wounded in terrorist incidents in 2006, most of them in Iraq, where eight of the 12 Americans kidnapped by terrorists last year were taken captive, it says.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 176 Commentskcstan11 :
So why don%u2019t the Arabs stop the bloodshed if they are so peaceful.. I smell BS
Look up "THe King David Hotel - 1947" ... the first terrorist attack that I ever saw in Palestine ... by the JEWS.
The Arabs were peaceful ... until the JEWS invaded their land and started the terrorism. The probably would be peaceful today except that they are forced to fight with rocks ... against US tanks and laser guided missiles.
In 1947 anyone could live in Palestine without fear of being attacked ... can they today???hellno ...
Posted by kcstan11
If you want peace, teach the Muslims to be peaceful. They have all the land they need.
Thank you,
For your succinct and accurate comments. Much appreciated.
The commander in chief hand has been overplayed by this administration.
And now that he has decided to veto funding for our troops. Well, maybe the war should remain un-funded. Only half kidding....
"The Congress shall have Power To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces"
Including how long they remain in a chaotic hellhole many thousands of miles from American shores.
This is NOT what they had in mind:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~c016003a/napoleon2.jpg
HMMM! No mention of over a 1000 Lebonese killed in a terrorist attack by the lousy JEWS and, their continuous daily killing of Palestinians.
Hey, Condi ... HOW DID YOU MISS THAT ???
Did you get that ?
Congress has Power over "any Department or Officer" -- that includes "Commander in Chief" -- Congress will tell him how long we remain in Iraq, not vice versa.
The words "separate" and "separation" and "separation of powers" appear nowhere in The Constitution. No specific powers are assigned to the "Commander in Chief." He is an Officer answerable to the People and their Congress. He is no Napolean, no Bismark, no Fuhrer. He is answerable to the People and to Congress.
Period.
So it must not be a global problem, but rather a problem between the U.S. and those that hate capitalism and especially imperialism (namely the U.S.). The world sees the U.S. as invaders that have mercilessly ravaged 100 IMF countries in the name of freedom and democracy (or as we ought to call it slavery) and/or put uniforms on people and called them devil dogs or leather necks and patriotically played music before sending them off to get killed or kill someone else, all for some lie.
Today, the insurgents penetrated the green zone and up to 100 Americans were killed in April. It is clear as daylight that Bush has much deeper plans than just slaughtering Americans in Iraq.
Bush has to be thinking about the end of the age of Putin at the end of 2008 when Putin must step down and all that oil and wealth ready for the taking. There can be no other reason. Everything else just fits. 10 USSR countries join NATO. Putin dissolves COLD War treaties. U.S. plants missiles in Eastern Europe. Carrier Groups in Persian Gulf. Troops in Iraq. Massive Budget deficit with dollar ready to collapse. Bush's last gasp as lame duck to capture wealth and Eurasia in 2008.
The "Commander in Chief" is mentioned only once in the Constitution, in half a sentence, and no war powers are mentioned as specifically his.
All powers regarding war and the military, even very specific ones, are given to Congress by the Constitution:
"The Congress shall have Power To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water"
"The Congress shall have Power To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations"
"The Congress shall have Power To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces"
"The Congress shall have Power To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions"
"The Congress shall have Power To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."
We've increased the number of active anti-US terrorists worldwide. The number of attacks is up, as is the number of victims killed in attacks. The number of the injured is also higher. The administration's war on terror is a spectacular success if their objective is to strengthen the terrorists.
However, if the goal of the administration has been to weaken the terrorists, it has been a failure of historic proportions. In the process of their spectacular failure, the death toll among the US military continues to rise as more of them are placed in harm's way in Iraq.
If insanity is doing the same thing over an over and expecting different results, continuing to do the same things over and over only doing more of it with more people, then it must qualify as some kind of super-insanity or simply Bushshit.
Um, problem with your logic here. The UK is our ally in Iraq. They are "on the offensive" with us. Yet they still got hit with a terror attack.
One demands a loyalty based upon secret trust, the other a fellowship based upon open truth."
The wise man answered "The one believes you are a fool."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
"Men desire authority for its own sake that they may bear a rule, command and control other men, and live uncommanded and uncontrolled themselves" (St. Thomas More, A Dialogue of Comfort).
I thought that Exxon-Mobile and Monsanto were tied for the top spot?
Re: "The report says 6,600, or 45 percent, of the attacks took place in Iraq, killing about 13,000 people, or 65 percent of the worldwide total of terrorist-related deaths in 2006. Kidnappings by terrorists soared 300 percent in Iraq over 2005."
What could be more absurd than a brutal and illegally ocupying aggressor, measuring the 'terror trend' index in the victim country?
I will print this report out on perforated double-ply, so that I can get some use out of it.
Another enemy is ourselves, namely those stupid moral idiots who teach that "all cultures are the same". If they had reported what heinous people the Israeli were fighting, people who targetted women and children, perhaps our State Dept and our college "educated" voters would have been more careful about foreigners from Arab states. Our media is in that mode still.
Until we understand that EVIL exists, we are vulnerable.
Until we truly fight with all our power, we will not fully win.
Whether it's your view or not, you need to compare Reno's terrorist convictions to those of Ashcroft and Gonzales. The only terrorist that Ashcroft convicted was an "anglo" from Noonday, Texas. Ashcroft didn't allow it to be publicized because Krar didn't fit the "Muslim profile."
Gonzales' numbers are inflated, and misleading at best. Of 200 convictions, only 14 had ties to al Qaeda. The median sentence for all 200 convictions was just 11 months. Some record!
We need more : Let it be known that we bill destroy all holy sites, like Mecca if we are attacked on US soil. 2. Kick out everyone from CAIR and send them to Egypt to be interrogated. 3. Shut down Al Jazeera and force them to tell us everything they know. 4. Bomb any nuclear site in Iran. 5. Introduce fear into Hezboll and Hamas. Carpet bomb them if needed. Those crazy people need a kick in the ASSSSJ. 5. Become energy independent with NUCLEAR plants, and hybrid cars. Buy a prius at gov't subsidy.
If this all sounds crazy to you, I am only trying to sound similar to the enemy, in what they would do to us, in a nanosec. Because that is what they are preaching. Crazy ? Yes. But no more than what our ISlamicfascist friends of peace are saying.
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