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PenWing said:
Pretty much what PI said.

A freedom fighter doesn't murder civilians.

A terrorist doesn't give a shit about civilians.

A terrorist will openly murder civilians.



The problem with a definition like this is that under it the US govt & the citizens who supported it were terroists during WWII when we were carpet bombing Germany & nuking Japan (which I certainly don't believe), not to mention in more recent conflicts (when, unfortubnately, sometimes we were).

Terrorism/ist just isn't a black & white issue. You have to look at specific actions (in specific contexts) and the motivations behind those actions to even begin to try to define an act (or actor) vis-a-vis terrorism.

Finally, when talking of the actions of states, can the citizens of a given state ever trully be considered "innocent"? Especially in democracies & republics.