Are terrorists and gunmen the same thing or are the media just having trouble keeping propaganda tags straight

Question

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/international_afghan_journalist_dc

Answer 1

'Gunmen' are people who use guns to get what they want. Terrorists are people who use fear to get what they want. It is common to fit both descriptions. That said, I doubt the media is trying to keep the terms straight. My answer is, they are not having trouble. That would imply they were trying.

Answer 2

Saddam DID have WMDs. One of his main generals said so:
article-

Sada, the former Vice Air Marshall under Hussein, appeared the following day on Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, where he discussed his book and reported that other pilots told him that Hussein had ordered them to fly portions of the WMD stockpiles to Damascus in Syria just prior to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.


Mr. Sada, 65, told the Sun that the pilots of the two airliners that transported the weapons of mass destruction to Syria from Iraq approached him in the middle of 2004, after Saddam was captured by American troops.
"I know them very well. They are very good friends of mine. We trust each other. We are friends as pilots," Mr. Sada said of the two pilots. He declined to disclose their names, saying they are concerned for their safety. But he said they are now employed by other airlines outside Iraq.
The pilots told Mr. Sada that two Iraqi Airways Boeings were converted to cargo planes by removing the seats, Mr. Sada said. Then Special Republican Guard brigades loaded materials onto the planes, he said, including "yellow barrels with skull and crossbones on each barrel." The pilots said there was also a ground convoy of trucks.
The flights - 56 in total, Mr. Sada said - attracted little notice because they were thought to be civilian flights providing relief from Iraq to Syria, which had suffered a flood after a dam collapse in June of 2002.

"Saddam realized, this time, the Americans are coming," Mr. Sada said. "They handed over the weapons of mass destruction to the Syrians."
Mr. Sada said that the Iraqi official responsible for transferring the weapons was a cousin of Saddam Hussein named Ali Hussein al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali." The Syrian official responsible for receiving them was a cousin of Bashar Assad who is known variously as General Abu Ali, Abu Himma, or Zulhimawe.

This was done AFTER the decision to invade Iraq

Answer 3

The terms are interchangeable, depending weather the story was manufactured or true.

Answer 4

In this case, it would appear they are one and the same...

Both terms tend to convey the same message, so I wouldn't assume a conspiracy here...