DrZoidberg
Contributor
Of course they're in dispute -- any number of people have pointed out errors and omissions in the FBI database. But the more serious problem is that the FBI uses asinine criteria to decide what is and isn't "terrorism". They're counting bank robberies and vandalism as terrorist attacks, for chrissakes! If we count only the attacks from 1980 to 2005 that killed somebody, Islamists were responsible for not 6% but 24%. And if we're counting murders and not just attacks, Islamists murdered about 3,000 people in America during that period; the Jewish Defense League murdered 3.I read these figures somewhere was it the FBI files. I'm too lazy to find these today. I Understand the Jewish Defence League committed more attacks than Jihadis (7% vs 6%.
The extent of the damage may give a different view but these figures are not in dispute.
The widely circulated claim that Islamic extremists are responsible for 6% and Jewish extremists for 7% is a textbook case of "Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics". It seems to trace to a propaganda site called "loonwatch". The only reason anyone would believe their misdirection is because they're telling him what he already wants to believe.
Why would the FBI mislead? What could they (or the American government) possibly have to gain by publishing false numbers? For all it's bad reputation, the American government, internationally, is very good at being transparent and being honest about the data. As their various leaks prove.
Btw, a bank robbery carried out with the intent to fund a terrorist attack should be considered terrorism. So I'm not sure that is a valid critique. I'm wondering if those kinds of bank robberies are used in the statistic?