The US State Department's Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003 (PGT 2003) Report has been pilloried by a number of American experts, who note that, "its maths defies reality". The Report contains a number of internal totalling errors that "even a third-grader could have found", according to one commentator in The Washington Times. The State Department has now taken cognisance of these errors and admitted that "the data in the report is incomplete and in some cases incorrect", and promised to issue a "revised analysis" after a review.

Speaking from Washington during a video conference with a group of Indians (including this writer) at New Delhi, on May 6, 2004, Ambassador Cofer Black, the US Coordinator for Counter-terrorism, under whose authority the Report is issued, stated: "My responsibility to the Secretary and others is to reflect the reality of events on the ground. These have to be validated and checked out, they have to be multiply sourced…" Little in the Report suggests that any such process of validation or diversity of sourcing has actually been followed.

The Report speaks of a total of 190 incidents of terrorism globally, in which 307 persons were killed, in the year 2003, with 82 of these targeting the US. The US is, consequently, the country worst affected by terrorist acts in the year under review according to PGT 2003. hyperpower operates on such poor intelligence is not particularly comforting to the rest of the world, or, indeed, to the people of the US who are yet to come to terms with the intelligence failures that preceded 9/11, and the manipulation of intelligence that preceded the ruinous misadventure in Iraq.MORE

 

By Srinivasan Parthasarathy

With the arrival of the “Information Age”, knowledge creation, representation and dissemination has started playing a central role in determining the future of societies. How does information pertaining to the Indian society, its culture, civilization, economy, and geo-political scenario get represented today? Who controls these representations? What are its implications to India and Indians across the world? Where does the Indian student community fit in this picture?

DESI started as a small attempt at answering some of these questions.

Develop Empower and Synergize India (or DESI) was started at University of Maryland, College Park, in the summer of 2003 with an aim to study, discuss and contribute towards various aspects of India such as culture, society, development, security and portrayals of India in the West. It also aims to provide a forum for eminent personalities to share their views on these issues by hosting talks, seminars and workshops. Having begun as a small circle of friends, DESI has now grown into a group of over twenty volunteers and maintains a mailing list which includes about two hundred and fifty members. MORE