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Mar. 30th, 2003 09:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jfbThe front page of the San Francisco Chronicle today said: WAR TURNS TO TERROR. The story was about the guy who drove a taxi into a U.S. Army checkpoint and blew it up, killing four soldiers and himself.
Listen, every life is precious. I hate that four of our soldiers died trying to help a presumed civilian . I hate that one of their soldiers died, too, even though he was clearly, how do I say this, not a good guy.
But what does "turns to terror" mean? There's no universal agreement on what terrorism is, but it usually seems to involve non-state actors, civilian targets, intent to coerce through fear, that sort of thing. Driving a bomb into an invading nation's military installation is a guerrilla tactic, but it's not terrorism. It's just war. Stupid, bloody, dirty, awful, awful war.
Listen, every life is precious. I hate that four of our soldiers died trying to help a presumed civilian . I hate that one of their soldiers died, too, even though he was clearly, how do I say this, not a good guy.
But what does "turns to terror" mean? There's no universal agreement on what terrorism is, but it usually seems to involve non-state actors, civilian targets, intent to coerce through fear, that sort of thing. Driving a bomb into an invading nation's military installation is a guerrilla tactic, but it's not terrorism. It's just war. Stupid, bloody, dirty, awful, awful war.
