What is terrorism?

Submitted by Peter (Australia), Dec 31, 2005 at 18:03

How refreshing it was to read a calm, reasoned comment by "tr" -- "Some of us still care about the Constitution"!

We are told that we are engaged in a war on "terror". But what exactly is "terror"? Is it the illegal invasion of another country, and the bombing of innocent civilians? Is it imprisonment without trial, and the torture of prisoners? Is it the encouragement of ethnic and religious hatred?

Certainly the attacks of 9/11 were crimes, but in retaliation the USA has killed far more people in Iraq. How is this not a form of terrorism? Is it really surprising that groups of Muslims around the world now hate the USA and its allies more than ever, and retaliate in turn?

Yet the attacks by Muslim extremists, appalling as they are, have still not claimed as many lives as the USA has done. And if one looks at the availability of soft targets in western societies, one is bewildered by the comparative lack of terrorist attacks. Nobody needs a terrorist network to set fire to a supermarket or derail a train. Even a really dumb terrorist could manage that single-handed. And just posting a few teaspoonfuls of white powder to appropriate organisations can disrupt essential services.

Yet despite the hype, such attacks are extremely rare. We have been gulled by our governments into believing in a new super-bogeyman, and deprived of some of our civil rights, while at the same time we ignore the fact that terrorism is a universal product of hatred. And many in the west, sadly, continue to promote hatred.

Muslims are human beings, with the same faults and follies as so-called Christians. Let us not forget that in such places as Ireland, Catholics and Protestants are still murdering each other. Yet we hear no outcry from George Bush about a war on Christian terror.

Peter

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