BOVARD

The Farce at the Heart of the War on Terrorism

7:07 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Terrorism

The Future of Freedom Foundation posted my essay today on “The Farcical Definition at the Heart of the War on Terrorism.”  Here is how the piece wraps up:

The United States has long insisted that government agents cannot be terrorists. The FBI defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.� Since government action is almost always lawful — or at least not considered criminal by the government itself — governments almost never qualify as terrorists under the U.S. definitions.

A far sounder definition was offered by Israeli National Security Council chairman Major General Uzi Dayan, who defined as terrorist in a December 2001 speech “any organization that systematically harms civilians, irrespective of its motives.� This definition catches all types of terrorism — not just actions that lack political blessings or official sanctions.

If a government systematically attacks civilians, the government is no less culpable than private cabals that blow up planes, buses, or cafes. By this standard, the Indonesian invasion of East Timor was as much a terrorist action as the bombings of Bali nightclubs in October 2002 that killed hundreds of civilians.

The U.S. terrorism definition is the key to the Bush administration claim that the war on terrorism is automatically a war for freedom. Without the “state-exempt� concept of terrorism, fighting terrorism would, in most parts of the world, have little or nothing to do with defending freedom. With an honest definition of terrorism, many governments in the Bush “freedom-loving coalition� are guilty of inflicting more terrorism than they prevent.

Having a “state action� exemption to the concept of terrorism is like having a “mass murder exemption� in the homicide statute. Any action carried out by private citizens that would be considered terrorism should also be considered terrorism if carried out by government agents. The United States should recognize that its bankrolling and support of governments that terrorize their own people makes a mockery of Bush’s promise to rid the world of evil.