Dubya's crew announces good news:

There were 199 international terrorist attacks during 2002. That represents a significant drop from the previous year ? 44% fewer attacks. In fact, it is the lowest level of terrorism in more than 30 years. The last time the annual total fell below 200 attacks was in 1969, shortly after the advent of modern terrorism. This is a remarkable achievement.

Dubya's enlightened policies must have really cut down on unprovoked atrocities against civilians, eh? Because that's what terrorism is, right? Not quite:

There are several reasons for the decrease. First, there was a sharp drop in the number of oil pipeline bombings in Colombia. There were 41 such attacks last year, down from 178 the year before.

So, more than half of the reduction in total "terrorist incidents" -- 137 out of 199 -- is accounted for by th ereduction of attacks on this one pipeline.

The "terrorists" in this case were the FARC -- a Colombian rebel army which controls a significant chunk of the country, and which earned its "terrorist" stripes as much by industrial sabotage and drug running as by atrocities against civilians.

It's correct to attribute this drop to US policy, by the way -- Dubya funded a brigade of Colombian troops with US money to protect the pipeline (owned by a US oil company, Occidental). But calling the result a reduction in terrorist attacks just underscores how much Dubya's "war on terror" is really a war on anyone who Dubya, at a whim, declares to be a terrorist.

(via Road to Surfdom)

And speaking of progress on the war on terror, real terror, and Dubya's response to it, exactly why is he so afraid of releasing that 9/11 report?

More: Calpundit grades Dubya's peformance, issuing an incomplete on terror and a failing grade on WMD.