Friday, August 19, 2005

TERRORISM DEFINED

The definition that follows – provided by the UN in 1982 – perfectly describes the heinous acts of al Qaeda and other similar organisations: "illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends." But, the elegantly simple definition isn't for terrorism: what crime does it describe?

For the answer, go here.

1 Comments:

Anonymous The_Real_JeffS said...

An interesting article, JF. Thanks for the link.

Defining terrorism as piracy (or equating terrorism to piracy) would be a bold move. I wonder that it might be done without UN approval, thanks to existing treaties. No blocking votes by states sympathetic to terrorism!

And an interesting precedent might be set. As I recall my history, pirates were fair game to any military, naval prior to the 20th century, but could be extended to other branches as well.

Even better, that silly statement "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" doesn't translate at all when applied to pirates.

6:59 PM  

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