Harry,

Your logic is, as ever, faultless. It's clear to every moron that it's Bush
who is at fault for incorrect information being realeased. Furthermore, who
but the most moronic could have any doubt that his actions are the driving
force behind international terrorism in Spain, Africa, Asia and the Middle
East. Who else could we blame for this mess? Certainly Al Queda has had no
part in the slaughter?

Gee, I don't know, but it seems to me the internet is one of the primary
tools used by terror groups. Shouldn't the guy who invented the internet
share some of the blame? I refer, of course, to your very good pal Al
Gored. ;=)

Butch


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Correcting data, US says terrorism incidents increased in '03

By Barry Schweid, Associated Press | June 11, 2004

WASHINGTON -- The State Department acknowledged yesterday it was wrong
to report that terrorism declined worldwide last year, a finding that
was used to boost one of President Bush's top foreign policy claims,
success in countering terror.

Instead, both the number of incidents and the toll in victims increased
sharply, the department said. Statements by senior administration
officials asserting success were based "on the facts as we had them at
the time; the facts that we had were wrong," department spokesman
Richard Boucher said.

The report, issued in April, said attacks had declined last year to 190,
the lowest level in 34 years, and dropped 45 percent since 2001, Bush's
first year as president. The State Department is now working to
determine the correct figures.

Among the mistakes, Boucher said, was that only part of 2003 was taken
into account.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said yesterday the errors were partly
the result of new data-collection procedures. "I can assure you it had
nothing to do with putting out anything but the most honest, accurate
information we can," he said.

"Errors crept in that frankly we did not catch here," Powell said of the
report, which showed a falloff in the number of attacks worldwide in
2003 and the virtual disappearance of incidents in which no one died.

Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat of California, said this week the
administration had refused to address his contention that the findings
were manipulated for political purposes. Waxman had written Powell
asking for an explanation.

Boucher said a reply to Waxman was in preparation. "We wanted to make
sure that we give the congressman the best and most accurate picture of
what we know and what's going on as we can," he said.

He said the errors began to become apparent in early May. "We got phone
calls from people who were going through our report and who said to
themselves, as we should have said to ourselves: 'This doesn't feel
right,' " he said.

When the annual report was issued April 29, senior administration
officials used it as evidence the war was being won under Bush.



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Bush: the new definition of inept and incompetent