In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Hey, our shirt should be even more out of date then it is
Right now our Orange Level tshirt harks back to a more frightened time. The days in March where we hid in our house afraid to go to films, diners... work. But now we are at Yellow and the orange level shirt is just another piece of instant nostalgia that is so popular in our culture today. But after reading this statement from the State Department: [The world is experiencing] the lowest level of terrorism in more than 30 years. I'm wondering why we aren't at Green, or perhaps Blue (Blue is guarded and that seems reasonable... we wouldn't want to get over confident and all 'Green' like).
Seriously though. This would seem to be the kind of information that the Bush Admistration should be yelling from the roof tops. It would make it seem like they really are doing something. But it would lessen Fear. And the fact that they aren't trumpeting this report is a sign that Fear to them is more important politically than an appearance of getting results. That is both odd and scary.
Here's more from the report:
There were 199 international terrorist attacks during 2002. That represents a significant drop from the previous year – 44% fewer attacks. In fact, it is the lowest level of terrorism in more than 30 years. The last time the annual total fell below 200 attacks was in 1969, shortly after the advent of modern terrorism. This is a remarkable achievement.
There are several reasons for the decrease. First, there was a sharp drop in the number of oil pipeline bombings in Colombia. There were 41 such attacks last year, down from 178 the year before.
Second, there are increased security measures in place in virtually every nation. They are most noticeable at airports and at border crossings.
Third, a large number of terrorist suspects were not able to launch an attack last year because they are in prison. More than 3,000 of them are al-Qaida terrorists and they were arrested in over 100 countries.
Lastly, I would credit the overall post-9/11 worldwide security environment. Nations are on guard against terrorism. They are sharing intelligence and law enforcement information, they are arresting suspects, they are thwarting attacks. Governments and financial institutions are drying up the terrorist sources of revenue. Regional security organizations are steadily improving their counterterrorism capabilities.
Funny I still feel scared.
- rob 4:59 PM - [PermaLink] -
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