All of the headlines claim an incredible rise in the number of global terrorist atacks and resulting deaths and injuries. There were three times as many attacks reported in 2004 than in 2003.

One journalist jumped at the opportunity to dare the President at his press conference this evening to claim that we weren't losing the War on Terrorism in the face of these apalling numbers.

QUESTION: Mr. President, your State Department has reported that terrorist attacks around the world are at an all-time high. If we're winning the war on terrorism, as you say, how do you explain that more people are dying in terrorist attacks on your watch than ever before?

First of all, the claim that "more people are dying...than ever before" is a crock of sh*t. The report says that reported deaths rose from 625 in 2003 to 1,907 last year. Perhaps this reporter forgot about a certain series of attacks that on one day alone killed almost 3,000 people, not to mention the intifada in Israel which was in full swing that year. More than ever?!?

Secondly, read deeply enough into any of the articles on the subject and you will come to this:

But John Brennan, acting director of the counterterrorism center, told reporters yesterday that the latest figures were compiled using different methodology and far more rigorous analysis, and ''cannot be compared to previous years in any meaningful way."

This reminds of the stories I remember from when I was younger that there was a large increase in the number of rapes reported when it became less of a social taboo to do so. The increase in reported rapes had nothing to do with the actual occurence of rape.

Nevertheless, the news always starts off with - International terrorist attacks rose sharply last year to 651 significant attacks worldwide, causing 1,907 deaths, according to a report released yesterday by the US government's National Counterterrorism Center.

As long as you don't read the fine print, I guess that's how you would see it.