So How's That War on Terror Going?

Matthew Lee of the AP reports:

Terrorist attacks worldwide shot up 25 percent last year, particularly in Iraq, where extremists used chemical weapons and suicide bombers to target crowds, according to a new State Department report….

In its annual global survey of terrorism to be released Monday, the State Department says about 14,000 attacks took place in 2006, mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan. These strikes claimed more than 20,000 lives—two-thirds in Iraq. That is 3,000 more attacks than in 2005 and 5,800 more deaths.

Altogether, 40 percent more people were killed by increasingly lethal means around the globe….The number of child casualties from terrorist attacks soared by more than 80 percent between 2005 and 2006 to more than 1,800, while incidents involving educators were up more than 45 percent and those involving journalists up 20 percent, the report says.