John Kerry = Terrorist?

[Jasonik]

A provocative title, I know.

I have time after time encountered the view that there is no moral or practical difference between terrorism and military force. That US actions in Iraq are equal to the acts of terrorism on 9/11 or the recent violence in Russia. Surely this thinking would mean US soldiers are terrorists.

I happen to dissagree with this line of thinking. I'm wondering what others think.

[ChrisLove]

It carries some weight but its largely an issue of definition, I have always thought of a terrorist as someone who creates terror to be used to achieve political goals, US troops undoubtedly create terror but the troops themselves have no political goals so I do not regard them as terrorists.

I am not even entirely sure that these Islamic fundamentalists really fit into my idea of terrorist nessecarily, they do not have quite the same focus on terror to achieve political aims, sometimes it seems they are just creating terror because they hate so much. Murderers more than terrorists.I know they do have political issues they are fighting for but its not in the same way as your traditional terrorist - ie kill some people and say give us what we want or we will do it again...

[bilbo]

Very cute , however I don't see the point of having a fit and starting a new thread with an asinine title just because Ace was getting the better of you on the Russian School thread.