In the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq, the administration was desperate to prove that it’s policies were responsible for a decline in terrorist activity. So they were obviously thrilled with the State Department’s 2003 annual report on global terrorism, which — initially — showed that terrorist attacks had been reduced to a level not seen since 1969. Hurrah for the War on Terrorâ„¢!

Too bad the figures were…uhm…total bullshit. A corrected report found that, in fact, terrorist attacks had increased sharply in 2003 — so much so that the revised civilian casualty figures were twice that of the original report. Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell was left trying to come up with an explanation that didn’t involve certain people fudging the numbers in an election year, without much success.

So what has the State Department done to make sure that a similar situation doesn’t happen again, now that the 2004 report is about to be released? Well, on the bright side, no one will be able to dispute their figures this year. This is because they aren’t going to publish any figures at all, which in the context of a report on global terrorism makes about as much sense as a cookbook without an ingredient list.

Gee…wonder why they did that?

For this year, the State Department had already circulated secret early versions of the annual report, due to Congress on April 30, with the statistics included. They reportedly showed another increase in terrorist acts over last year.

It’s helpful to realize that the State Department’s report isn’t some meaningless memo to get filed away and forgotten; it is generally looked upon as the world’s “gold standard” of terrorism reports. But even that isn’t enough to save it from one of the inescapable realities of the post-9/11 political landscape: Trying not to embarrass the President is more important that providing accurate information. It’s hard to criticize the administration when there are no facts available to even formulate an argument; props to the boys down in Minitrue for another bang-up job.

The State Department says that the figures may be published by another agency, but no one seems all too sure or all too concerned about that. “The people of the United States will get all the facts. The world will get all the facts,” said spokesman Richard A. Boucher, but any such “facts” will only be presented at the moment of least political impact….if at all.