The US State Department has conceded it was wrong in reporting that terrorism declined worldwide last year.
Instead, both the number of incidents and the toll in victims increased sharply, the Department admitted.
Statements by senior administration officials claiming success were based "on the facts as we had them at the time. The facts that we had were wrong," Department spokesman Mr Richard Boucher said.
The April report said attacks had declined last year to 190, down from 198 in 2002 and 346 in 2001. The 2003 figure would have been the lowest level in 34 years and a 45 per cent drop since 2001, Mr Bush's first year as president. The Department is now working to determine the correct figures.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday the errors were partly the result of new data collection procedures. "I can assure you it had nothing to do with putting out anything but the most honest, accurate information we can," he said. "Errors crept in that frankly we did not catch here."
The report showed both a drop in the number of attacks worldwide in 2003 and the virtual disappearance of attacks in which no one died. When the annual report was issued April 29th, senior administration officials used it as evidence the war was being won under Mr Bush.
One of Mr Bush's major foreign policy claims is that his post-September 11 strategy to counter terror was showing success. At the same time, Vice President Dick Cheney have questioned whether Democratic presidential candidate Mr John Kerry was qualified to conduct a war against terrorism.