What makes a terrorist a terrorist?

I've seen a lot of people arguing that israel is justified in taking actions because they are a legitimate authority and the palestinians are terrorists.So it got me to thinking.... What makes a terrorist a terrorist and how do people separate "legitimate" forces from terrorists?Here's some examples from history to get us started:American Revolutionaries.... were they terrorists against legitimate british rule?
Confederate forces... terrorists?
How about the current iraqi resistance... terrorists?
French partisans during WW2... terrorists?
Scottish fighters against England... terrorists?
IRA.... terrorists?
Contras.... terrorists?
Sandinistas..... terrorists?
Viet Cong..... terrorists?The list goes on and on... So what makes a group terrorists?

Intimidation?

Well, I'm pretty sure all those groups above used intimidation....One group that really used intimidation was the US when dealing with Native Americans (trail of tears, etc). Were we a bunch of terrorists?I'm thinking that one man's terrorist is another man's hero/freedom fighterAbE: But how do we draw the line? I mean, so many people here are very sure that palestinians are terrorists and israelis are not.Also many people are very sure that iraqis are terrorists and US soldiers are not.I mean, obviously people think this way because it's "sticking up for your own side"... but really.... is there anyway to even classify someone as a terrorist?Edited by SuperNintendo Chalmers, : No reason given.

Sorry I couldn't resistBettybowers.com

don't forget geronimo. the most infamous terrorist of all time. oh and ghengis khan and the goths and visigoths. and boudicca. she was scary.

The general criteria seems to be whether you support their goals or not.

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Oops! Wrong Planet

I think it is the kinds of targets you have.If you purposely target the innocent, then it is terrorist.If you try to target someone who is attacking you, but is hiding amoung the civilians.. that is grey area, but I think can fall under not terrorist.If you specifically target the military, the police and the government officials, then you are a rebel, (if you fail), or a freedom fighter (if you win).

good poins Ramoss....But then it got me thinking I'm pretty sure this makes all sides during WW2 terrorists (think dresden fire bombings, etc).General Sherman during The civil war also comes to mind

Well, the thing that you need to remember is that definitions are slippery things.ramoss said "If you purposely target the innocent, then it is terrorist."You replied that If you are a Nation State in a declared war, I don't think you can be considered a terrorist. That means that the things like Dresden are horrific, but not terrorist acts. They might well be war crimes however.The gray area comes when a Nation State acts against non Nation States.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

I think Sherman was engaged in attacking and attempting to destroy the means of production of th South in order to cripple it's capacity to make war and also to make the cost of war so heavy on the citizen's that they would accept peace.I'm not sure if George Washington's attacks on native Americans falls into the rubric of terrorism, perhaps it was attempted genocide. I've read that Hitler studied Washington's campaigns and used them to develop his persecution of the Jews, but perhaps Washington would have claimed that like Sherman he was attempting to destroy the Indian's capacity for waging war.Having written this I don't think it's possible over the breadth of human history to distinguish terrorism from war as even in the days of set peice battles there was foraging, looting, and raping often taking place. I think in the end if your side does it it's war and if the other side does it it's terrorism.lfen

Mmm. Well, let's take two Allied examples from WW2.Bomber Harris's raids on Dresden? Hiroshima?Grey area indeed.

a group ,that attempt to subvert and or coerce the existing ruling power , by means of acts targeted to cause terror with in the civilian population .the agender of the group can be political , racial , religiious , criminal what ever ..The problem is many groups use "terror" tactics but can make , to some degree , claims to be freedom fighters , and to be at war with the other sidethose below all fall into that area , at time they act as terrorists , other times the fight a war style campagin there are free pure terrorist's over time , as the nature of the fight may change ...animal rights extremeists who conduct letterbomb campagains are a good model for a terrorist group .Barder Minehoff was a classic terrorist group

I think the biggest question is 'Who is innocent?'After all - it isn't George Bush that runs the USA its 'We the people', so anything that the US does (it could be argued) is the responsibility of its citizens. Who is truly innocent is in the eye of the beholder and thus so is who is a terrorist.Unless, a terrorist is someone who targets people that they themselves consider innocent...

Now there's a good point mod... It's of course hard to know what a person thinks... but if you kill civilians who you more or less know are "innocents" then I guess that would definitely make you a terrorist

Would that include George Bush and Tony Blair? They were, after all, touting the idea of regime change, and their use of unmanned cruise missiles in Iraq was probably just as terrifying to the Iraqi people as were Hitler's buzz bombs of WWII to the British.