How the West Plays Politics With International Terrorism
So much for the aphorism, one picture is worth a thousand words. I’m going to show you four images — actually, they are images of statistical tables — and use fewer than 1000 words to describe their meaning.
The images of the following tables, which are copied from the US Department of State’s Annex of Statistical Information on Terrorism for 2022 and 2023, demonstrate that Iran is not the number one sponsor of terrorism since 2018, and that the US Government is playing politics with the term, terrorism — embracing some terrorists when convenient and labeling others as terrorists, who are engaged in acts of war.
Consider the first table, which presents the groups who carried out the most terrorist attacks between 2018 and 2019. Seven of the ten groups are Sunni Islamists, and reportedly have received funding from Gulf Arabs, Turkey and Western intelligence organizations. The other three — Communist Party of the Philippines, Baloch Liberation Army, and National Liberation Army — are not inspired by a religious doctrine. Not a single one of these ten groups is supported by, funded by or trained by Iran. Not one!
Let me direct your attention to the group ranked number nine in terms of terrorist attacks — that is Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), whose former head is now the acting leader of Syria. And guess what? Representatives of the US government, as well as members of Congress, are embracing Mr. Jawlani, who headed up HTS until assuming control of the government of Syria. You can be number nine on the terrorist hit parade, but if it suits the United States, you are absolved of your sins and elevated to being the leader of a country.
The next Table tells the real story — the Top 10 groups that killed the most people are all radical Sunni Islamists. Again, not a single one has any affiliation with Iran. Just the opposite — Iran considers ISIS an enemy of Iran and has fought in Syria against ISIS elements.
Now, watch the political magic happen in 2023– suddenly Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) all make the Top 10. Hmmm… what happened in 2023? Oh yes. That would be the military raid launched by Hamas and the PIJ on both military and civilian targets in Israel on October 7. The Houthis, who had been fighting a war with Saudi Arabia since 2015, made the list because of their efforts to shutter maritime traffic headed to and from Israeli ports as a gesture of support for the Palestinian people. And Hezbollah? They launched rocket and missile strikes, primarily on Israeli military installations, but hey, in the US book of selective labeling, that is terrorism.
While these groups — all are tied to Iran in some way — are labeled as terrorists for the number of attacks in 2023, how many did they actually kill? For that answer, look at Table 2.2. Damn! Only Hamas and the Houthis made the Top 10, with Hamas garnering the number one spot because of the fatalities on October 7 and the Houthis, getting the terrorist label because they are carrying out military attacks against the Saudis and civilian maritime traffic in the Red Sea.
These tables illustrate both the hypocrisy and dishonesty of the analysts who assembled them. The claim that Hamas is a major terrorist group is debunked by the statistics collected by Israel’s Foreign Ministry over the last 25 years. I have discussed that evidence in my previous post, written almost a year ago, The Hard Facts About Palestinian Terrorism Debunk Western Narrative.
And there is clear evidence challenging the claim that Hamas killed all of the Israeli citizens who died on October 7. Max Blumenthal, writing at the Grayzone, has presented credible evidence exonerating Hamas of the body count claimed by the US intelligence community:
Blumenthal has reported on testimonies and evidence indicating that Israeli forces, in their efforts to repel Hamas attackers and prevent abductions, fired upon or shelled areas where Israeli civilians were present, leading to additional Israeli casualties.
Specifically, Haaretz and other sources have confirmed that the Israeli military invoked the “Hannibal Directive” on October 7, which is a policy directing soldiers to use force to prevent the capture of Israeli personnel, even at the risk of harming hostages.
In the case of the Nova music festival, an Israeli investigation found that an IDF helicopter killed Israeli civilians during the chaos, a fact highlighted by Blumenthal and others.
Blumenthal’s reporting draws on survivor testimonies and Israeli media reports that show some Israeli commanders made the decision to shell houses with both hostages and attackers inside to prevent further abductions, resulting in civilian deaths.
And here is another question — Why did the US government NOT identify the Houthis as one of the biggest terrorist killers in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022? Incompetence?
Leaving Hamas and the Houthis aside, we still have the same pattern revealed in Table 2.3 from the 2022 Annex — eight out of the ten groups identified as the biggest terrorist killers in 2023 are radical Sunnis with no affiliation with Iran.
These are not my facts. I am simply reporting the data provided by the US government, courtesy of the intelligence community. Apparently, the policy wonks in Washington are ignoring the intelligence. Hence, a closing aphorism… Ignorance is bliss. I think this calls for a R.E.M. appearance: