[WikiEN-l] terrorism

Tue Jan 20 00:03:15 UTC 2004

zero wrote:
Daniel Mayer wrote:
>> On the other hand the fact that a great many people regard
>> OBL to be a terrorist is one of the big reasons why he is
>> famous.
>
>No, most of his fame is due to his organizing a couple of
>planes to fly into the WTC.  Some is due to his other attacks.

Hello!! Slamming civilian commercial jets into civilian office buildings 
killing thousands and destroying a national icon is terrorism no matter how 
you parse it! I for one was depressed for a month after I saw the towers fall 
on live television even though I live on the opposite coast and do not 
directly know a single person killed that day. That's terrorism. 

The attack on the Pentagon is only half terrorism by some interpretations due 
to the fact that the Pentagon itself is a military target. Flight 93 also may 
or may not be considered terrorism based on ones own interpretation. The 
people on the plane were certainly innocent civilians, however (except for 
the suicide hijackers of course).

But the WTC attack was certainly a terrorist act. That makes whoever planned 
them a terrorist. Since we do not know for certain that OBL did in fact plan 
them, we can only state, as fact, that the suicide hijackers in the WTC 
attack were terrorists. OBL is just widely considered to be a terrorist since 
he is the number one mastermind suspect. 

-- mav