HOMELAND SECURITY – ALL THE NEWS THAT'S UNFIT TO PRINT:
Every year since 1985 the State Department has published an annual report on international terrorism, described as "the definitive report on the incidence of terrorism around the world." There will be no such report this year. The State Department has stopped publication of the 2004 report "after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985." According to both current and former officials, "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's office ordered 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' eliminated several weeks ago because the 2004 statistics raised disturbing questions about the Bush administration's frequent claims of progress in the war against terrorism." The State Department now says terrorism numbers will be provided by the new National Counterterrorism Center, but don't hold your breath: Asked when that report would be released, spokesman Richard Boucher admitted, "Don't have a date yet. They've agreed to do it; don't have a date yet…. I don't know when." [more]