New Database Debunks Terrorist Myths

The majority of terrorist attacks result in no fatalities, with just 1 percent of such attacks causing the deaths of 25 or more people.

And terror incidents began rising some in 1998, and that level remained relatively constant through 2004.

SOURCE(s):
LiveScience.com

University of Maryland Global Terrorism Database

I'm not really one to follow a lot of the finer details about the war and such,
but I thought this was interesting and might be useful and enlightening to people.

[edit on 5/25/2007 by iori_komei]

[edit on 26-5-2007 by UM_Gazz]

Well I guess with such a publicized, exploited and miss used of the "term" war on terror, we need now extensive research into this important subject.

After all we are fighting terror globally.

There have been thousands of terrorist attacks on civilians by Islamic extremists since 9/11.

A list of the dates of the terrorist attacks, the countries in which they were committed, the number of deaths and injuries of each attack can be viewed on the URL below.

Here are a couple of attacks that happened just yesterday.


5/25/07
Thailand
City Yala
Deaths 1
Injuries 0
Muslims shoot a 40-year-old man in the head and torso. He succumbs to injuries a day later.

5/25/07
Thailand
Yala
Deaths 2
Injuries 0
Two teenagers are savagely gunned down on the side of the road by Muslim radicals.

I know, it must be Thailand's involvement in Iraq which is the cause of these attacks. Won't the Thais ever learn? Scroll down the following page for a List of Islamic terror attacks

Wow, really its 1%? I thought it would be more like 2.

Recently while researching for an essay I came across the US State Department's yearly report titled, 'Patterns of Global Terrorism'.

Julian Burnside, QC (In Australia) laid out figures from their 2004 report in an article he wrote for PRECEDENT (68) May / June 2005 : pp. 4-10. Taken from the state department's report full text's of which can be found here it points out the number of Terrorist Acts, Deaths and wounded as a result of terrorist attacks WORLDWIDE.

Its a chart, so I will try to make it into one here -- not too sure how it will work.

From the Law Journal, 'Precedent' issue 68.

YEAR ACTS DEATHS WOUNDED
2003 208 625 3,646
2002 199 725 2,013
2001 346 3,547 1,080
2000 423 405 791
1999 392 233 706
1998 273 741 5,952
1997 304 221 693
1996 296 311 2,652
1995 440 165 6,291

He also notes that...

"(Since this article was written, the 2004 figures have been revealed. The State department initially tried to avoid producing them. They show a significant increase in the number of deaths caused by terrorism, mostly in Iraq where the US Invasion appears to have provoked a significant level of terrorist activity.)"

Then of course, if you take the deaths caused by Heart Disease and Junk Food, Car Accidents, Guns, Cancer or anything like that, you will notice that more people die in the US alone each year, from any one of these causes than die worldwide from terrorist acts. The next logical step to ask yourself, is why is terrorism such a forefront political issue?

Edit: If anyone knows how to fix up a proper chart on the boards, could you IM me or something? Cheers. I'd love to fix that up properly so its a bit more readable.

ALSO: I have not directly linked to the article here, as I accessed it through a database which a lot of people here will not have access to. Please have a look at the full text releases from the 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' or if you have access to Informit (the database) IM me and I can give you some details on how to find the article.

[edit on 26-5-2007 by colourinthemeaning]