Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said the threat of al-Qaeda and terrorism is spreading and remains imminent, even as the data says otherwise, suggesting she inflated the threat.
“The core of Al-Qaeda that carried out the 9/11 attacks may be on the path to defeat, but the threat has spread, becoming more geographically diverse,” Clinton said at a speech at the Global Counterterrorism Forum meeting in Istanbul, adding that “the danger from terrorism remains urgent and undeniable.”
The National Counterterrorism Center’s annual report for 2011 was released on this week and it documents a declining threat from al-Qaeda and non-state terrorism.
“Total ‘terrorist’ attacks fell 12 percent from the previous year and are down 29 percent from 2007,” writes Dan Murphy at the Christian Science Monitor, “which the center says is a five year low.”
The study said about 10,000 acts of violence occurred in 2011 that the government classifies as terrorism, killing about 13,000. Zero terrorist attacks occurred in the U.S. and, as Murphy points out “three-quarters of the fatalities were in just four countries: Afghanistan (3,353), Iraq (3,063), Pakistan (2,033), and Somalia (1,101).”
Incidentally, those all happen to be countries in which U.S. foreign policy has been excessively interventionist and brutal and which only became hot-spots of “terrorism” following U.S. wars or proxy wars.
The report says, out of about 13,000 people, only 17 private American citizens were killed in terrorist incidents last year: 15 in Afghanistan, one in Jerusalem, and one in Iraq. Those in Afghanistan and Iraq were likely aid workers or private contractors, although the report doesn’t specify.
Even counting all 17 U.S. deaths by terrorism last year, though almost all went knowingly into a war zone, that amounts to .001% of Americans died from government-designated terrorism last year.
Clearly, Clinton was engaging in some major threat inflation, as all people in positions of high authority do to maintain their power.
That said, the U.S. has been laying the groundwork for some very serious blowback via its own state terrorism (not counted in the report, of course) in places like Yemen, Pakistan, and beyond.
There are a few things to understand from this report.
1. Where US intervention goes, terrorism follows.
2. The risk of dying from a terrorist threat is astronomically lower than dying of something like cancer or heart disease.
3. The biggest terrorist is the US government which is pointing a gun to your head and ransacking you of your money so it can spend it to promote terrorism in places like Iraq & Afghanistan.
#2 is particularly interesting. Curing cancer & heart disease is much more plausible than ending anti-interventionist fighters by intervening more. There are 2 issues here. 1st you don't fight fire by throwing more gasoline on it. 2nd you'll save way more lives by spending money on medical research. The only true security threats are medical.
Just like Dubya
Terrorism down — Brutal imperialism up
Terrorism being a class war, rich ruling-class of the West and laboring-class of the Middle-East, name of the game is to keep the laboring-class impoverished by a brutality that instills fearful submission and prevents a rebellion.
As the US election gets closer and closer, it's clear that the current resident of 1600 can't or doesn't want to run on the economy…so, let's ramp up the terrorist fear factor – hey…maybe even…you know, just coincidence you know, of course, there might be some sort of incident – maybe even in the "homeland" – allowed to occur or manufactured – that will distract the easily mislead into maintaining the political status quo…just sayin'…
Not like the Archons haven't created their own realities to suit their trestleboard plans before.
17 out of 13,000 would be near one in a thousand (0.1%), not one in a hundred thousand (0.001%).
Let’s assume that a bunch of people called ‘Al-Qaeda’ did the 9/11, and that these were some of the people—called Mujahedeen– whom we worked with and helped to drive the USSR out of Afghanistan. This is what we have been told by the regime and the media.
That said, Clinton is probably right because in her mind and in the minds of the leaders of the regime anyone who disapproves or hates us for our foreign policy of killing rampage in the world is an Al-Qaeda or its supporter. This is both disingenuous and playing with words.
In the 13,000 cases of terrorism that’s been reported, none happened in the US. So, what the hell are we, the world cop?
The fact is that we go around the world attacking countries, replacing regimes, killing the opponents of the regimes we like, droning people from miles in the sky, thereby making enemies. These new enemies are what she calls Al-Qaeda. She’s wrong and she’s fear mongering, and it has become obvious that if we keep doing what we’re doing the number of ‘Al-Qaeda’ and its supporters will increase exponentially.
Doesn't anyone know that Hillary is a war-mongering liar?
Who, Hitlery?
The word 'TERRORISM' is used to conceal peoples resistance to US/British/Israeli occupations and invasions of their land. It is a form of 'new speech'. used by 'western' governments, politicians and in the mainstream western news media. Reporting in our 'new age' is enhanced and much more sophisticated Goebles-like psychological propaganda to ensure support from the masses by manufacturing consent .
That ugly b*tch opens her mouth and all I can see are snakes and toads coming out.
Terrorism up — Our wealth is up
Good news warmongers and plunder lovers, as terrorism is in direct proportion to the vengeance generated by our wars of aggression, the rate of terrorism is a direct indicator of the brutal imperialism and plunder we are with a vengeance pursuing.
For last year Obama spent two days in Saudi Arabia and came home with an order for $60 billion of our latest killing machines. Eat your heart out Russia and China, trading Western war materials for Middle-East oil is a money maker you will never be able to equal.
I used to think that Netanyahu, Barak and Peres were the "unholy triad" or "axis" of existential threats to the world, but Hillary and her claque of neocon hacks, including Susan Rice, Panetta and the Pentagon and Obama and his compromised legal advisors, Holder, Koh, et al, are all part of the same problem, and the American people and the rest of the world are the "screwees".