Terrorism is way, way down, except in countries torn apart by civil war, often where the US has sent occupying troops

In Terrorism before and after 9/11 a more dangerous world?, researchers from the US Department of Defense and the RAND Corporation used data from the University of Maryland's Global Terrorism Database and the Uppsala Conflict Data Program to produce a quantitative look at the long-term trends in terrorism: the short upshot is, terrorism is up globally because of massive increases in places where US troops have been sent as occupiers, presenting a target-rich environment for terrorists -- but when you take those places out of the data, terrorism is way, way down worldwide. (more…)