It really doesn't matter which side you take, or how you define terrorism. They are all wrong and, they are all right. The facts are:
1. This last century has been the bloodiest in terms of humans killed by other humans in all of recorded history - well over 150 million dead from wars, genocides, ethnic cleansing, harsh regimes, etc.
First World War
(1914-18): 15 000 000
Russian Civil War
(1917-22): 9 000 000
Soviet Union
, Stalin's regime (1924-53): 20 000 000
Post-War Expulsion of Germans from East Europe
(1945-47): 2 100 000
People's Republic of China
, Mao's regime (1949-1975): 40 000 000
Tibet
(1950 et seq.): 600 000
Congo Free State
Armenian Massacres
(1915-23): 1 500 000
China, Warlord Era (1917-28): 800 000
China, Nationalist Era (1928-37): 3 100 000
Korean War (1950-53): 2 800 000
Rwanda and Burundi (1959-95): 1 350 000
Second Indochina War (1960-75): 3 500 000
Ethiopia (1962-92): 1 400 000
Nigeria (1966-70): 1 000 000
Cambodia, Khmer Rouge (1975-1978): 1 650 000
Mozambique (1975-1992): 1 000 000
Afghanistan(1979-2001): 1 800 000
Iran-Iraq War (1980-88): 1 000 000
Sudan (1983 et seq.): 1 900 000
Kinshasa Congo (1998 et seq.): 3 800 000
2. There is no universally recognized rule book for the conduct of war. There has seldom been a war where atrocities were not comitted by one side or both sides. And ever mounting are the death tolls of non-combatants.
3. Warfare is NOT limited to actual battles between armies. It is rather naive to think it is. Any act to oppress or force an adversary in an unwilling direction is a type of warfare; whether it be armed force, nuclear threats, economic sanctions, etc. Terrorism is a form of warfare and may be the only form of resistance available to a group.
4. Reaction to oppression runs the whole spectrum from submission, to Ghandi's passive resistance, to covert sabotage, to terrorist acts, and so on....all the way up to outright full blown military war. Somewhere in there fall the normal and preferred political actions such as appeals to world opinion, the World Court, United Nations, "Big Bothers", etc.
5. The fact is also that those in power determine what goes into the history books that are used to teach in the schools. Witness our thread opener who seems to have a distorted picture of the Armenian genocide. When you add to this:slanted news stories in the press and very biased web sites; is it any wonder that we still have people who revere the likes of Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pat Robertson, etc.
6. The biggest fact of all is that there are really very few of us that are knowledgable enough to really give judgement on most world issues. There are many differances from one culture to another, and it is very hard to understand the issues from the viewpoint of the other side. Many times it is hard just to separate out the right course from the viewpoints on our side. I usually try to understand the motivations of each adversary as a starting point and go from there.
Terrorism is in the eye of the beholder. The Boston Tea Party and Samuel Adams are golden icons in American History, but to the British it was an outrage and Samuel Adams deserved to be hung. Someday it is possible that the events of 9-11 will be considered as just actions by victims of US militarism and financial opression. You all did notice that is what the targets were didn't you? It's not like they bombed the SuperBowl or Madison Square Garden.