The terrorists who attacked us and the terrorists we face murder in the name of a totalitarian ideology that hates freedom, rejects tolerance and despises all dissent.
To achieve these aims, they have continued to kill: in Madrid, Istanbul, Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh, Bali and elsewhere...
There is only one course of action against them: to defeat them abroad before they attack us at home.
-- President George W. Bush, speech at Fort Bragg, NC, June 28, 2005
The map above is a time plot of all the terrorist attacks attributed to al Qaeda since the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 19, 2003.
To advance the timeline, use the control bar at the bottom of the map. Each step to the right advances time approximately 1.5 months. The timeline concludes on July 24, 2005.
To learn more about any of the terror operations that al Qaeda has managed to mount around the world during our engagement in Iraq, simply click the marker on the map for that incident.
Taken together, since we "took the fight to the terrorists" by invading Iraq, these terror operations have claimed the lives of more than 400 innocent people of all nations, and injured almost 3,200 more. Their attacks are no less sophisticated now than they were three years ago, and they have moved from striking at the periphery (Casablanca, Jakarta) into the heart of Europe (Madrid, London).
Osama bin Laden has been the world's most wanted man for nearly four years and he is still at large.
The president says his war is protecting us from terrorism by pinning al Qaeda in Iraq. Do you agree? Are we safer now?
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"Safer Now" is made possible by the amazing WorldKit.
Check out the rest of my blog, there's lots more where this came from.
Obligatory Disclaimer: If you think anything I write here represents the opinions of anybody but myself, you need more help than I can give you. The opinions are all mine, folks. Nobody else's. ESPECIALLY not my employer's.
If that's too hard to understand... well, I'm sorry. There's only so much I can do. I'm not a therapist, and I'm not a miracle worker. (Unless you consider staying employed in this economy a miracle.) I wish I could help you work through your delusional belief that I'm speaking for anyone else but myself. Honestly, I do. But in the end, that's a monkey you'll have to get off your back on your own. Sorry.
Last modified November 10, 2005