Us annual terrorism report

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

There are some interesting numbers in here. In particular, that there were more terrorist attacks last year than there were this year, while this year's ones (obviously, 9/11 in particular) were much more devastating. I'd be interested to know what they all were last year. Also interesting is that half of them this year occured in Columbia against an oil pipeline. I'd never even heard about this particular incident (although the fighting in Columbia is nothing new), anyone have any more facts on the subject? The rest is pretty unsurprising and straightforward, with the same 7 countries still on the list. I guess Afghanistan isn't there because they have a new government in place.

 

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iran remains the world's most active sponsor of terrorism, while Sudan and Libya took some steps -- but not yet enough -- to "get out of the business" of terrorism, the State Department said Tuesday in an annual report to Congress.

 

The report listed the same seven countries -- Iran, Sudan, Libya, Iraq, North Korea, Cuba and Syria -- as state sponsors of terrorism last year.

 

Iran has intensified its backing for violent Palestinian groups that attacked Israel, but Iran also apparently has reduced its other terror activity, the State Department told Congress.

 

But in certain areas, including Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, state sponsors remained a driving force behind terrorism. Iran, Iraq and Syria were all cited for backing terror groups.

 

The report said there is no evidence Iran sponsored or had foreknowledge of the September 11 terror attacks in the United States.

 

Some of the seven listed countries, particularly Sudan and Libya, took steps to get out of the terrorism business, but "none has yet taken all necessary actions to divest itself of ties to terrorism," the report said.

 

And positive moves in North Korea were halted abruptly, the report said.

 

Overall, terrorist attacks claimed a record number of lives -- 3,547 -- in 2001, about 90 percent of them in the September 11 attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania, the State Department said.

 

And yet, the number of international terror attacks declined to 346, down from 426 in 2000. A little more than half of the attacks, 178, were bombings against an international oil pipeline in Colombia.

 

In Iran, the revolutionary guard and intelligence and security ministry are active in planning and supporting terrorist actions and supporting terror groups, the report said.

 

Hard-liners who hold the reins of power thwarted efforts to end the country's support for terror, the report said.

 

Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a preface to the 177-page report, said "the terrorist threat is global in scope, many-faceted and determined."

 

He said "the world's response must be equally comprehensive, multidimensional and steadfast."

 

He called the report chilling and said no country "has the luxury of remaining on the sidelines" in countering terrorism.

 

The report called the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and an airline that crashed in Pennsylvania,"the worst international terrorist attack ever" -- with the four coordinated suicide attacks by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network killing more than 3,000 people from more than 78 countries.

 

It was the "bloodiest day on American soil since the Civil War," said Francis X. Taylor, who directs the department's office to counter terrorism, and the most devastating international terrorist attack in world history.

 

Yet because the attack galvanized an international coalition against terrorism, "ironically, by their own hand, terrorists set in motion their own ultimate demise," Taylor said.

 

The United States and the coalition it mustered still have a "long way to go to assure final victory in the global war against terrorism," Taylor said.

 

"But one thing is certain: if terrorists questioned our resolve to defeat them and their nefarious objectives before, they cannot question it now," Taylor said.

 

The September 11 assault was a defining moment around the world, galvanizing countries to take stronger measures against terror.

 

All Arab and Muslim countries except Iraq condemned the attack on the United States, the report noted. Greece, Italy, Poland and many other countries intensified their backing of the United States and stepped up their efforts to track down terrorists.

 

In addition, several countries in the Middle East cooperated more closely with the United States in combatting terror, the report said.

 

"Most Middle Eastern countries -- including some with which the United States has political difficulties -- showed an unprecedented degree of cooperation" in the fight against terror, the report said, citing Syria and Yemen in particular.