freedom fighters or terrorist?

What is a terrorist? I find it strange that in the modern day a terrorist is generally someone who is against western ideals. I think they are wrong. A terrorist seems to be someone who is against the wishes of the government of the day.

Years ago the UK government decread that the IRA was a terror group, yet many including people living in the USA saw them as freedom fighters - trying to remove British rule from what is rightly Irish soil. ETA is also a terror group, yet many see them as freedom fighters seeking a homeland free from Spanish rule.

Today, terror groups seem to be every where - the media seems to hold sway with the western governments in labelling them islamic extremist. As has been mentioned on other posts in this forum, many islamic groups are just sick and tired of the west imposing their ideals on what really are traditional societies. The Palestinians, the groups in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world seek their own way of life, in many cases they seek justice that the west (UN) pledged but never honoured. I know some radicals call for Islam to be the worlds religion - they are a few, but whilst the west interferes in their own way of life they will breed people who wish to seek revenge. They see themselves as freedom fighters, just like the IRA and ETA see themselves.

Man is greedy, and we will always fight to prove our point. different branchs of cristianity have fought over their way of life in the past and right now different branchs of Islam are fighting for power in Iraq.

What we can do as a world is keep our way of life within our own borders, trade with each other but keep our ideals and beliefs to ourselfs. Who cares if someone believes in Buddha, God or the Profit - at the end of the day we are humans who need to get along with each other, not kill due to differences in religion.

Just my thoughts.

This labelling of freedom fighters vs. rebels, insurgents, and/or terrorists goes back to the Reagan Administration, imo. That is where I first heard the labels applied to the "freedom fighters" - the Nicaraguan Contras fighting the Leftist Sandinista regime, and the "communist rebels" - the insurgents fighting the Right-Wing El salvadorian regime. The Reagan administration supported the Contras, as we all know, as well as the Salvadorian government. Hence, to them, the Contras were good, and the Salvadorian insurgents were bad.

Switching the Villains

Despite a few frank admissions, Clarridge's autobiography continues a pattern of former Reagan administration officials rationalizing their actions in Central America in self-serving memoirs.

Typical of the distortions is Clarridge's argument that the contra war was justified because the Sandinistas were responsible for burning down Salvadoran villages and killing Salvadoran children. In fact, it was the U.S.-backed Salvadoran military that carried out those scorched-earth campaigns and the slaughter of thousands of Salvadoran civilians with suspected leftist sympathies.

In December 1981, for example, the U.S.-trained Atlacatl Battalion swept through northeast El Salvador. Around the town of El Mozote, the troops rounded up about 800 unarmed peasants of all ages. The Atlacatl soldiers first massacred the men, then the women and finally the children, some of whom were bludgeoned and then burned alive.

link

ter‧ror‧ism:  the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.

hmm, doesn't quite sound like what the "terrorists" in the middle east are doing, they sound more like freedom fighters. they aren't trying to scare anybody into doing anything except leave.

now I know who it does sound like however, who has been trying to scare us with the thought of terrorism for the political gains of, um lets say, a war in Iraq and the passing of a certain patriot act?

[edit on 15-9-2006 by Babel Fish]

When the US government finally makes a move against US citizens (anyone remember New Orleans?), patriots (people who believe in the constitution) will be called terrorists. Oh yeah, that's already happening.