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New Study: Iraq War increased deadly terrorism 607% [VIDEO]
By Bruce Ackerman
Posted on February 23, 2007, Printed on February 13, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/story/48398/new_study%3A_iraq_war_increased_deadly_terrorism_607_%5Bvideo%5D
Yes yes, I'm aware that the die-hard authoritarian bootlickers will never respond to rational thought but it's always interesting when another tragic cherry is plopped atop the disaster of the Iraq invasion.
Mother Jones funded a study by Paul Cruickshank (who elaborates in the video, right) and Peter Bergen, showing that contrary to all the Bush rhetoric, the invasion of Iraq has increased terrorism. Dramatically. Our study yields one resounding finding: The rate of fatal terrorist attacks around the world by jihadist groups, and the number of people killed in those attacks, increased dramatically after the invasion of Iraq. Globally there was a 607 percent rise in the average yearly incidence of attacks (28.3 attacks per year before and 199.8 after) and a 237 percent rise in the fatality rate (from 501 to 1,689 deaths per year). A large part of this rise occurred in Iraq, the scene of almost half the global total of jihadist terrorist attacks. But even excluding Iraq and Afghanistan—the other current jihadist hot spot—there has been a 35 percent rise in the number of attacks, with a 12 percent rise in fatalities. Two of the most interesting findings outlined by Cruickshank in the video are that Al Qaeda was a dying organization given a new lease by the Iraq War and that the methods developed inside Iraq are being exported.
Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.
© 2012 All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/48398/
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