Remember that 2006 report that terrorist incidents were increasing, worldwide?
Christian Science Monitor:
In a report to be released next week, US government figures will show that the number of terrorist attacks in the world jumped sharply in 2005, totalling more than 10,000 for the first time. That is almost triple the number of terrorist attacks in 2004 -- 3,194.
Remember that 2006 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which concluded that the Iraq War was damaging the War on Terror?
CBS News:
A declassified government intelligence report says the war in Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for Islamic extremists, breeding deep resentment of the United States that is likely to get worse before it gets better.
In the bleak report, released Tuesday on President Bush's orders, the nation's most veteran analysts conclude that despite serious damage to the leadership of al Qaeda, the threat from Islamic extremists has spread both in numbers and in geographic reach.
"If this trend continues, threats to U.S. interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide,' the document says. "The confluence of shared purpose and dispersed actors will make it harder to find and undermine jihadist groups."
Did anyone notice Sunday's reports of coordinated terror attacks throughout (update: edited as per Clem Yeobright's comments) in four southern provinces of Thailand?
New York Times:
A string of at least 29 bombings and attacks by gunmen in parts of southern Thailand plagued by a Muslim insurgency killed at least seven people and wounded dozens more, officials said Monday.
The bombings were the first time insurgents struck all four of Thailand's Muslim-majority provinces at the same time, said army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote.
The bombs, triggered by digital watches, exploded between 7:15 and 8 p.m. and targeted hotels, karaoke bars, power grids, commercial sites and schools. Two people were killed Sunday in a bombing at a karaoke parlor in the tourist town of Betong on the Malaysian border.
Or the reports that will be in Monday's newspapers about another terrorist attack in India?
New York Times:
An explosion on a train headed for Pakistan set off a fire that swept through two cars and killed at least 66 people in an attack that a government minister said was aimed at undermining the peace process between India and Pakistan.
Authorities said two suitcases packed with unexploded crude bombs and bottles of gasoline were found in cars not hit in the attack, leading them to suspect the fire was set off by an identical explosive device.
Remember that Civil War in Iraq, that continues to ravage the civilian population? That Civil War that didn't exist until we invaded?
BBC:
Twin blasts hit a market in the New Baghdad area, killing 60 people. Two more people died in another blast in Sadr City.
The attacks are the deadliest since a joint US-Iraqi security offensive was launched on Wednesday.
Well, guess what- it's even worse than you thought!
From the New York Times:
Senior leaders of Al Qaeda operating from Pakistan have re-established significant control over their once-battered worldwide terror network and over the past year have set up a band of training camps in the tribal regions near the Afghan border, according to American intelligence and counterterrorism officials.
American officials said there was mounting evidence that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, had been steadily building an operations hub in the mountainous Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan. Until recently, the Bush administration had described Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Zawahri as detached from their followers and cut off from operational control of Al Qaeda.
The United States has also identified several new Qaeda compounds in North Waziristan, including one that officials said might be training operatives for strikes against targets beyond Afghanistan.
So, more than five years after the September 11 attacks, and nearly four years after the invasion of Iraq, we are losing the War on Terror! Bin Laden's still on the loose, and regaining power. We're losing a war in Iraq. We're inspiring more terrorism around the globe. And our military is collapsing from its misuse and abuse by the Administration.
McClatchy Newspapers:
The length of the war in Iraq has strained all aspects of the armed forces, said Dov Zakheim, who was the Pentagon's chief financial officer from 2001 to 2004.
"In 2003, I don't think anybody predicted it would go as long as World War II and the wear and tear on equipment would be as intense," said Zakheim, now a vice president for global strategy consultant Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. "When I left the department, we were spending less than $4 billion a month on Iraq. Now it's pretty much doubled."
The length of the Iraq war surpassed that of World War II last month. The costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the global fight against terrorism are expected to surpass the $536 billion in inflation-adjusted costs of the Vietnam War by spring. That's more than 10 times the Bush administration's $50 million prewar estimate.
Do you feel safer?