TerrorismTerrorism on decline in U.S.
From 2002 to 2011, the United States has experienced a noticeable decline in terrorism, and North America was the region least likely to suffer from terrorism: there were only twenty-three deaths as a result of terrorism in the United States from 2002 to 2011; the three most active perpetrators of terrorist acts in the United States have been the Earth Liberation Front, Animal Liberation Front, and various anti-abortion activists; al Qaeda and affiliates, the Taliban and affiliates, the KKK and affiliates – combined — accounted for less than 3 percent of terrorist attacks in the United States in the past decade
The Institute of Economics and Peace has published its annual Global Terrorism Index. The Washington Post reports that the study highlights the following trends:
- The frequency and lethality of terrorism in Iraq is higher than in any other country.
- Terrorism is still high, but the trend lines shows that it is leveling off globally (see more figures in Measuring Systemic Peace from the Center for Systemic Peace).
- Most terrorist acts are motivated by religion, with political ideology coming second and nationalist-separatist motives third.
- Terrorism is on the rise in Africa – especially in Somalia and Kenya in east Africa, and in the Sahel region of west Africa – but vast regions of the continent are free of terrorism
- The United States has experienced the most noticeable decline in terrorism, and North America was the region least likely to suffer from terrorism from 2002 to 2011. The United States suffered only twenty-three deaths as a result of terrorism from 2002 to 2011. The three most active perpetrators of terrorist acts in the United States have been the Earth Liberation Front, Animal Liberation Front, and various anti-abortion activists. Al Qaeda and affiliates, the Taliban and affiliates, the KKK and affiliates – combined — accounted for less than 3 percent of terrorist attacks in the United States in the past decade.
