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American Terrorists


Introduction Torture Glossary Cindy Sheehan Protest
9/11 Bush’s Five Big Lies The Muslims Will Kill Us All!
Bush’s Untrue WMD Statements Don’t Marry A Soldier
American Terrorists How You Know Bush Lied about WMDs Don’t Enlist
American War Criminals Iraq War Motives Do Enlist
Disrespecting American Soldiers Altruistic War Motives The Coming Draft
Joke Selfish War Motives The Ideal War
Iraq War Casualty Pictures Popular War Motives Spoken Word Links
Abu Ghraib Torture Pictures Economic Cost of the Iraq War Video Links
Navy Seals Pictures Beheadings Books
Fallujah Pictures History Related Essays by Roedy
DU Baby Pictures Why The Iraqis Fight So Hard Links
Culprit Pictures What The Iraqis Want Taking Action
Protester Pictures Republican Denial What You can Do
Links To Pictures Republicans Pretend Not To Notice Mark Twain’s War Prayer
Body Counts Saddam Hussein War Is A Racket
Defense Science Board Future Wounds by Dr. Norman Bethune
Atrocities Mind Your Own Business! How Will The Iraq War End?
Tortures Why I Despise Most Americans Conclusions
Guilty of Torture God On Our Side
Because I do it with one small ship, I am called a terrorist. You do it with a whole fleet and are called an emperor.
~ A pirate from St. Augustine’s City of God circa 410 AD.

American Terrorists

The word terrorist is so loaded with negative connotations that many Americans have used it very loosely to tar their enemies, e.g.:

Historian’s Definition

Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh have made such effective use of the terrorist smear tactic, that I doubt people in general will be much interested in using the term terrorist precisely. However, it does have a clear meaning.
Terrorism : killing civilians with the intent of changing their political affiliation.
~ Caleb Carr (1955-08-02 age:62), military historian

I would modify that definition slightly. I don’t think nuts who act completely on their own should count as terrorists. I think they need to be associated with an organisation to count as terrorists.

Any action constitutes terrorism if it is intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a Government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.
~ Kofi Annan (1938-04-08 age:80) secretary general of the United Nations
Thus terrorism includes: Terrorism does not include: Not all evil deeds are terrorism. Note that in determining what constitutes terrorism, it does not matter who does the killing. What matters is who is killed. In particular, when soldiers or civilians kill soldiers, it is not terrorism, no matter what means they use. That is just ordinary warfare. When soldiers kill civilians it is terrorism, no matter what means they use.

FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) Definition

The FBI define terrorism in a similar way, using more bureaucratic language:
Terrorism: the unlawful use of force against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population or any segment thereof, in the furtherance of political or social objectives This definition includes three elements:
  1. Terrorist activities are illegal and involve the use of force.
  2. The actions are intended to intimidate or coerce.
  3. The actions are committed in support of political or social objectives. (FEMA-SS)
FBI
Here is how terrorism is defined in US law:
The term international terrorism means activities that:
  1. involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State;
  2. appear to be intended:
    1. to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
    2. to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
    3. to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping;
    and
  3. occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum.
~ Findlaw.com
In short terrorists are people who kill civilians to browbeat them into changing their politics.

Note there are no execeptions to being considered terrorism when white Christians kill Muslims, when Americans kill Iraqis or when god-fearing people kill evil-doers, or when the people killed hated the killers.

So Are the Americans In Iraq Terrorists?

Americans have killed over 100,000 civilians, mostly children in Iraq. This is the only peer-reviewed scientific statistic of the war. Politicians have denied it, but the figure still stands. As science, it cannot be easily dismissed.

That makes them terrorists, whether you approve of that action or not. This makes the American soldiers in Iraq international war criminals and also criminals under American law. Had Hitler won WWII (World War II), prosecuting he Nazis would have been much delayed. Similarly, since America is so militarily powerful, it will be hard effect mass prosecution. Only a few lesser lights who stray outside the protection of the USA will be nailed to start. Germany has already started prosecuting. Consider that some Nazis were not prosecuted until they were in their 90s. The political balance of power could change substantially over the next 70 years. American involved in the terrorism cannot count on perpetual protection.

Iraqis have killed American soldiers in Iraq. They are not terrorists. Killing soldiers is ordinary warfare, not terrorism. You can argue that killing in defence of their own country is wrong by Christian morality, but it is still not terrorism.

Iraqis have killed mercenaries and various support people in Iraq. All of these people were present in Iraq to support the invasion and occupation. There were not bystander civilians. They are aiding and abetting the terrorism against the Iraqi people and are thus also international war criminals. Killing them does not count as terrorism. It is ordinary resistance warfare. It has nothing to do with whether you support or condone such killing. It is simply a matter of the definition of terrorism.

The Laugh Test

I have received emails from many Americans utterly convinced that Americans have killed no civilians in Iraq. If anyone did it, in their view, it must have been someone else. Americans are Boy Scouts, the good guys. They could not possibly have done such a thing. Any evidence to the contrary must be lies. Any photos of the alleged evil deeds must be fakes. That does not pass the laugh test. Consider:

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