White House: Increase in terror attacks since 9/11 a success.

Great job by reporter Eric Brewer.

Raw Story:

I didn’t want that to be the last word, so on Friday I went back to the White House to throw one more metaphorical shoe at the president. Luckily, Deputy Press Secretary Scott Stanzel was sitting in for Dana Perino and Tony Fratto, both of whom have ignored me these last couple of months. Here’s the transcript of my exchange with Scott:


ME: The administration has been boasting about the success of the President's war on terror, yet data compiled by the RAND Corporation show that the global rate of terrorism, as measured by the number of people killed per year, increased by almost fivefold during the Bush presidency. And according to the government's own terrorism statistics, 2007 was the worst year ever, with over 22,000 people killed worldwide. Does the President consider that record a success?

MR. STANZEL: The President considers it very much a success that we have kept this nation safe since the devastating attacks of 9/11. The magnitude of the attacks on 9/11 were unprecedented, unseen, when 19 individuals armed with box cutters flew airplanes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and were fought and died in a field in Pennsylvania.

We have taken the fight to the terrorists. It has been this President's sole mission throughout his presidency to confront those threats where they are. He has a much talked about Bush Doctrine. The President has made it very clear that if you aid, abet, house, feed, fund a terrorist, you are just as guilty as the terrorist, and that we will also confront the challenges where they emerge so we don't have to face them here at home. And we will work to spread an ideology of hope and freedom, which will be the ultimate tool in combating terrorism around the world.

So I'll move on. Yes, go ahead --

ME: But shouldn't the anti-terrorism efforts reduce terrorism rather than increase it?

MR. STANZEL: Well, I guess you should ask the question, have terrorists -- do terrorists continue to try to kill innocent civilians around the world? Yes, they do. Should we then just take a step back and decide, no, we shouldn't confront those challenges?

ME: But you can try a --

MR. STANZEL: I'm done, I'm going to move on.

ME: -- you can try a different tactic.

MR. STANZEL: Which is -- we have a full tactic, full panoply of tactics that we use, on the diplomatic side, on the defense side, on the homeland security side, and terrorist financing side. So the President is very proud of his record in defending this country and taking the fight to terrorists for the past two terms.

This is probably the last time I'll set foot in the Bush White House. So that’s my farewell kiss in honor of the widows, the orphans, and all those killed in Iraq.

Eric Brewer attends White House briefings on behalf of Raw Story and BTC News.