Who decides which groups are "terrorists groups"?

Question

For example many many people- perhaps on the side of the world where its day time when America is asleep- think of Hezbollah as a decent group that is only helping its people and defending them from foreign invasion. And while some object Ahmadinejad's comments about Israel, others see that Britain and the US have already "whipped out" Palestine from the map. For more information you can compare the maps of 70 years ago to today's maps.And is it less brutal to kill if you're on a F-16 then when you wrap a bomb onto yourself? Is it right to kill Afghan children with airplane bombs? Is that not "governmental terror"? Does it give you the right to kill if you call yourself a "super power"?

Answer 1

I do, give me a group and I will make a decision and get back to you.

Answer 2

While anyone could aply the 'terrorist' label to anyone they want, for it to stick - at least, in the minds of rational people - there would have to be some evidence of illegal acts meant to instil terror in a population as a means of winning concessions from that population or it's government.

Ahmadinejad's comments about Isreael, for instance, are not terrorism. They're inflamatory rhetoric, but they're not terrorism, they're just words. (BTW, if you look at a 70 year old map, you'll see the "British Mandate of Palestine" - if you think the Brits should be ruling Jerusalem, well, that's your opinion and you're entitled to it, I guess).

What weapons you use to kill also don't make a big difference, it's who you're trying to kill and what you're trying to accomplish by it that make the difference. For instance, bombing a weapons factory or a roadway in the middle of a populous city and killing many civilians is not terrorism, it's 'just' war, part of destroying the enemy's capacity and will to fight. Blowing up a handfull of people in a cafe, OTOH, even though the loss of life is much less, probably is (unless the bomber didn't have any kind of agenda that is - like if he blew the building up to collect insurance money).

Answer 3

You have answered your own question. But don't expect a lot of sympathy from the black-and-whiters on this site.

The Department of Defense has no interest in loosing "the war on terror," and thus we are not going to have a press free-for-all in Iraq, Afganistan or any other coutry or entity with whom we go to war.

Journalists are embeded. The DoD and the Bush Administration tell the media what they want the public to hear. Coverage of the war is very controlled in the interests of the above forces and presumably in the interest of the American public.

So of course we're going to get an image of us, "the good guys," vs. them, "the bad guys." The powers that be want to win hearts and minds.

(Same happens on both sides of the fence.)

So while we may get anti-war commentary from more liberal leaning commentators in some instances, we're never going to see the full scale the dammage caused by our bombs, etc. We won't see many dead bodies or injured Iraqi children.

It's that sort of coverage that turns the citizenry against its government's war: case and point, Vietnam.

I think most if not all people can agree that some sort of information filtering happens during wartime. The place where people start opposing each other is in the motivation behind that filtration. If you have a lot of faith in your government, you'll probably think this filtration is to prevent too much information from reaching "the enemy." If you're more cautious of your government, you probably feel that this filtration happens so as not to expose the true face of war in all its messiness and thus lose supporters.

I'm not condoning any form of terrorism whether its by a small group of extremists or a superpower but I think there's more to the story than what we get through the tube.

Instead of "bombing the terrorists into oblivion," we're simply creating more pissed off Arabs who turn to extremism out of revenge. And so the cycle goes.

Answer 4

Hezbollah just seized control of Gaza and executed various members of the Fatah party, in some cases in front of their wives & children. Hezbollah constantly launches rockets into residential sections of Israel with the hopes of killing innocent Israelis. AlQaida intentionally crashed US Jets into civiliian targets with the intent of killing as many civillians as possible, AlQaida films and broadcasts the act of beheading civiliians like Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg. These kinds of behavior justify classification of "terrorist".


Palestine was never a country, it was all under Ottoman rule until around WWI, Great Britain made the blunder of promising land to the Palestinians, (which included land in Jordan and Syria as well as Israel), then they also promised some of that land to the Jews, (who have resided in that area for thousands of years before there was a such thing as Islam).
I am quite convinced that our military does what it can to avoid killing civillians, while the Terrorists intentionally hide amongst civillians, because they know we will tread lightly there, and hoping for civillian casualties which generates negative press about the US.
Consider what Hezbollah would be like if they where the undisputed world superpower, do you think they would take caution not to kill any civillians or use their might to erradicate those who they disagree with?

Based on these obvious points, I decide who I consider terrorists.

Answer 5

if u go back to the past, Hitler killed 6 Million Jews & Mr.Hitler is a Christian. if u look today, Bush is killing innocent people, invading other countries in the name of war & Mr.Bush is a christian.

so who ever joins these Hitler & Bush community are the terrorist groups. All these stereotype people are only concerned about materialistic things of this world. These Saitan people are the real terrorists of this world...

" God has power over all things... ", if these stereotype people can ever understand this phrase, then they can never call themselves as
"super power"...

Answer 6

Soldiers kill the enemy during war.
Terrorists kill women, children, babies etc. in the worst possible ways.

Soldiers are governed by Rules Of Engagement. They will minimize collateral damage.
Terrorists will spread as much destruction as possible.

Soldiers grow and adapt to new threats.
Terrorists act like they're still living in the seventh century.

Soldiers (at least of the US armed forces, and the overwhelming majority) wouldn't be able to sleep at night if they killed a few children.
Terrorists hide behind those children.

Your argument has no merit. Go away.

Answer 7

certainly, that is not any nonsense in any respect. Barry Gibb (one third of the Bee Gees) wrote Barbara Streisand's responsible album, which develop into considered one of her maximum good promoting albums. some years in the past, the comparable Barry Gibb wrote yet another Barbara Streisand's album, which in some countries is generic as responsible Pleasures, mutually as in different countries is generic as responsible Too (or "2")

Answer 8

The Big powers and Media In the light of their "interests"!

Just going back in the history, When Afghanis were fighting against Russian Invasions, they were called freedom fighters but when they started struggling against American invasions the same afghanis were labelled as terrorists..Osama was once trained By US against Russia and when the same osama turned against US, he is announced as the biggest criminal on the earth !couldn't decide who is bigger, Bush or Osama? Anyways !

Answer 9

Apparently for you America is the terrorists and you support innocent killing

Trust me you can't win this argument.. it's like saying who decides if gangs are criminals or kill to support themselves..

But yeah Americans are terrorists

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/gadahn_a.htm

Hahahaha I can't be sarcastic anymore.. seriously terrorists kill innocent people so we call them terrorists

America called Alqueda a terrorist group because they killed innocent people on 9/11

If you support the terrorists please go to Afgan/Iraq and be just like Adam Yahiye Gadahn

Answer 10

Anyone with a little common sense can easily decide which groups are terrorists. I disagree with your opinions and do not feel any sympathy for terrorists who deliberately murder innocent people.

Answer 11

It sure does give you the right. No one wants to live in huts in the desert where it's 115F year round, and have your *** kicked if you worship Christ instead of follow islam...We serve a purpose with our F-16's and offer you dipshits a choice in life. Only wussysissies strap dynamite to themselves and bomb a cafe and kill 30 people in the name of crapola BS. Long live the US and go away taliban....