"The State Department is scrambling to revise its annual report on global terrorism to acknowledge that it understated the number of deadly attacks in 2003, amid charges that the document is inaccurate, dangerously outmoded and politically manipulated by the Bush Administration.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/09/1086749775931.html

"The department said it was the second time the report, considered the authoritative yardstick of the prevalence of terrorism worldwide, has had to be revised. When the most recent Patterns of Global Terrorism report was issued on April 29, senior Bush Administration officials immediately hailed it as objective proof that they were winning the war on terrorism.

"Indeed, you will find in these pages clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight" against global terrorism, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said.

"But on Tuesday, State Department officials said they underreported the number of terrorist attacks in the report on 2003, and said they expected to release an updated version soon. Several US officials and terrorism experts familiar with that revision said the new report could show the number of significant terrorist incidents increased last year, perhaps to its highest level in 20 years.

"Among the original report's highlights: The annual number of terrorist attacks had dropped to its lowest level in 34 years, declining by 45 per cent since 2001. Overall, fewer people were being killed, injured and kidnapped, and the US-led global coalition had taken the fight to al-Qaeda and other terrorist organisations with great success.

"Several State Department officials denied their report was swayed by politics. "That's not the way we do things here," said one senior official.

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is there anything that is believable anymore? i can hardly remember anything they have said that was actually true...