Terrorism vs counter attack vs guerrilla warfare etc. Whats the difference?

Question

Lets say the US attacks Iran and Iran makes good on it's threat to target American interests world wide . It that a counter strike or terrorisim ?
Lets say the US went into Nicauagua and "arrested" the President is that a black operation or is it terrorisim or is it enforceing the law ?
When US troops are attacked in Iraq is that war gurrella warfare or terror ?
The Americans used gurrilla warfare tactics against the British because there army was nowhere near the level of the much better trained and armed regular forces of the Empire at the time . Was this ingenious and a proud piece of work by "freedom fighters" or the desperate act of cowadice that the American army wouldn't come out and fight according to the rules of the day ?
When the Viet Cong fought by hiding in bushes and setting up ambushes etc was that a brave piece of ingenious work on the part of a weaker army or an act of cowadice that the Viet cong wouldn't come out and fight according to the rules of the day ?

Steelegra...

Please do not insert your question into mine when trying to answer .

Read the question at hand and define terror vs counter strike and how that works into a David vs Golliath situtation .

VoodooPun...

If I were convinced that the formula you state stayed that consistant I would be happy - I believe the words change significantly not based on a straight forward simple formula such as yours but gets muddled by certain special interest groups

Steelegra...

I am really curious about this one .

OK some government is going to fly into America and arrest Bush on war crimes related to torture and give him a fair trial and he will have to live with whatever that forign powers judge says .

So terrorisim ???? Or a brave act to enforce the Geneva convention and act according to justice ???? Huh Huh ?

I am willing to bet you are so damm biased you would demand that nation be nuked tommorow not seeing that your nation did the same thing and sat around congradulating themselves in over stuffed arm chairs

Answer 1

The difference is on which stand you stand. A lot of it is semantics.

Answer 2

Terrorism is basically action that is politically motivated. Guerrilla Warfare is a unconventional, "small war" which emphasizes "get in and get out" because most of the time, there is a disadvantage in regards to numbers. Anyways, Guerilla warfare is a type of action that can be used. Its like a trickle-down chart. Like you can have terrorism. And some people carry out terrorism through Guerrilla Warfare, spying/covert ops, Direct Action, or all out warfare. So Guerrilla Warfare is essentially a way of of getting things, like terrorism, done. Some of today's notable terrorist organizations employ the use of this tactic. Like we see Taliban Insurgents coming in, quickly taking out (or trying to) a foreign military base, and then retreating.

Answer 3

What an easy question. The answer is, terrorism is intentionally targeting civilians in an effort to terrorize the populace, thus achieving your political goals.

If Iran were to target civilians instead of retaliating against military targets it would be terrorism. If the US arrested the President of Nicaragua, that is targeting military personnel, not terrorism. When US troops are attacked in Iraq it is not terrorism, but when civilians are targeted in an effort to increase fear and instability in Iraq, it is terrorism. Guerilla tactics were used against British military - not terrorism. Viet Cong attacking military targets - not terrorism. Simple formula.

Answer 4

In every example you gave it was soldiers fighting soldiers, not crazy men flying planes full of innocent people into buildings full of more innocent people. You don't get the distinction do ya?

"Lets say the US went into Nicauagua and "arrested" the President is that a black operation or is it terrorisim or is it enforceing the law ?" - who are we terrorizing? What innocent was murdered?

When us troops are attacked in Iraq it is war, when Iran blows up your knitting circle after the US attacks them, they are certainly not counter-striking against the military, it is terrorism. Get it? At all?

Ok my Canadian friend, I WOULD demand to nuke the nation that came in and arrested my President A) because we have a system of laws in our country that any President must uphold and if he doesn't he goes to our jails. This is not true for many third world nations. B) It IS my country and I will always vote to defend it and its citizens, I suppose I am 'biased' in this.

Let me just explain to you I don't care about the rights of any one else in the world. I'm an American I love America I support its leaders and its interests. I like Canada too, even though most of you hate me and my country. That is where I am biased, it doesn't however make my argument less valid.

I admit my answer was somewhat harsh toward you, I get a bit angry when you compare our Revolutionary soldiers to scumbags who blow-up children in cafes.

Answer 5

It's tough to tell, and really varies with each situation. If Iran countered US military actions by attacking American interests, that would be a retaliatory terrorism. Because they have a target (The US military who attacked them) which is there to engage in fighting, but instead they attacked others not involved. But insurgents attacking military in Iraq are guerrilla fighters more then terrorists, because they are engaging those who are their direct threat. They aren't trying to instill terror on innocents, they are trying to fight a military. They are doing it in a sort of cowardice way, but probably the best way they can think of.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

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Answer 8

Terrorism is simply targeting innocent civilians to incite terror. The others are targeting specific stategic threats.

Answer 9

gorilla warfare means stick and move, it is a legitimate tactic, one of the ways our peasant army beat the English empire in our revolutionary war

terrorism is attacking innocent people with non-national solders, the difference

terrorists attack planes full of civilians or civilian market squares,
or civilian holly places, or fly planes full off civilians into buildings full of civilians, with no military target in mind, they attack the people of a country not the military and government

Answer 10

The only difference is the propaganda label that is assigned to them.

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

Just because people target civilians does not make them terrorists.

If a targeted civilian is supporting the enemy force, that civilian is as much an enemy and the invading force.