WASHINGTON - Data withheld from an annual report on terrorism issued by the US State Department shows a sharp increase in the number of attacks last year in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, a leading Democratic lawmaker charged Tuesday.
"According to the data being concealed from the public, global terror attacks were more than three times higher in 2004 than the record levels set in 2003," Representative Henry Waxman wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asking that the information be restored to the department's annual report "Patterns of Global Terrorism."
His letter was sent one day after administration officials at a Capitol Hill briefing presented data showing what he called a "dramatic uptick" in terrorist attacks.
"In Iraq, where we are spending billions to restore order, terrorist attacks were nine times higher in 2004 than in 2003," said Waxman.
Waxman said that there were approximately 650 significant terrorist attacks around the world in 2004, compared with 175 attacks in 2003.
Prior to 2004, the 175 significant terrorist attacks in 2003 represented a 20-year high, according to Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee.
"These are important facts that the American public has a right to know," said Waxman, after the briefing by officials from State Department and the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC).
Earlier this month, the US State Department said it had decided not to publish annual statistics on the number of terror attacks and casualties, after discrepancies were found in figures released last year documenting attacks that had occurred in 2003.
The 2004 report had claimed that the number of terrorist incidents has been on the decline over the past three years and that 190 cases reported in 2003, represented the lowest reported total since 1969.
US officials at the time trumpeted the report as evidence that the United States was winning the war on terrorism.
But the document was found to be riddled with errors and had to be corrected and re-released.
Waxman, who said the errors would never have been discovered had the administration not published the figures, urged Rice to put the data back in the report
"Last year, Bush Administration officials cited the annual terrorism data as an illustration of 'the great progress that has been made in fighting terrorism.' Members of Congress and the public discovered that these statements were erroneous only because the underlying data on terrorist attacks was available for scrutiny," he wrote in his letter.
"Your decision to withhold the data this year eliminates this vital check on the veracity of the administration's claims," he said.
"(Former) Secretary (Colin) Powell never sought to hide behind the actions of another agency, avoid responsibility, or conceal data," Waxman continued.
"I urge you to follow Secretary Powell's example.
"The large increases in terrorist attacks reported in 2004 may undermine administration claims of success in the war on terror, but political inconvenience has never been a legitimate basis for withholding facts from the American people," he said.
04/26/2005 19:02 GMT