The nature of popular terrorism

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Terrorism: Theirs and ours
A Presentation at the University of Colorado, Boulder by Eqbal Ahmad, 12 October 1998. The terrorist of yesterday is the hero of today, and the hero of yesterday becomes the terrorist of today. Official documents explain terrorism, express it emotively, polemically, to arouse our emotions rather than exercise our intelligence by defining it.
International Terrorism
By Stephen Zunes, Foreign Policy in Focus, December 1998. The disproportionate focus on terrorism relative to its real threat and to other foreign policy concerns suggests that the issue has become heavily politicized. U.S. policy has emphasized unilateral military rather than political solutions to the terrorism problem, which has isolated the U.S. in the international community.
‘Terrorism’: The word itself is dangerous
By John V. Whitbeck, Daily Star (Lebanon), 12 July 2001. With the world's sole superpower declaring an open-ended, worldwide “war on terrorism”, the notorious subjectivity of this word is no longer a joke. The word is dangerous because people apply it to whatever they hate as a way of avoiding rational thought and discussion and, frequently, excusing their own illegal and immoral behavior.
Extremism, terrorism and fundamentalism
By Anwar Syed, DAWN, 13 October 2001. Not all terrorists are fundamentalists, but given the need and the opportunity, fundamentalists and extremists are likely to resort to terrorism if they think it will advance their goals. The definition of terrorism and the issue of motive. The Islamic fundamentalist dismisses the liberal position as heresy or as something approaching apostasy.
Who terrorizes whom?
By Edward S. Herman and David Peterson, smygo list, 18 October 2001. From the 1950s the United States has been heavily engaged in terrorism, and has sponsored, underwritten, and protected other terrorist states and individual terrorists. As the greatest and now sole superpower, the US has also been the world's greatest terrorist and sponsor of terror.
The Politics of Terrorism, or Civilians vs. Civilians
By William Pfaf, The International Herald Tribune, 10 January 2002. The war against terrorism needs to be freed of the hypocrisy, cynicism and partisan exploitation that surround it. It began as a war against evil but turned into a war against the Taliban government in Afghanistan. You can go to war with a government, but the Pentagon cannot attack evil.
No Military Solution to Terrorism
By Richard Norton-Taylor, International Herald Tribune, Thursday 10 January 2002. Bombing will not bring anyone to account, or to justice. Political self-expression that goes through the mosque and madrassa will mean resentment, even hatred of western societies. The globalization juggernaut of cultural intrusion into these traditional societies will certainly fuel this hatred and make religious terrorism even more likely.
Dissecting the Meaning of Terrorism
By Andreas Toupadakis, Media Monitors, 28 March 2002. It would be prudent to finally come face to face with the full spectrum of terrorism, which is simply the spread of terror, instead of talking about this or that individual terrorist or nation.
Musharraf wants root cause of terrorism eliminated
DAWN, 3 June 2002. President Gen Pervez Musharraf called upon the world community to eliminate the root causes of international terrorism without which the dream of eradicating terrorism would not be fulfilled. Outstanding political issues such as Kashmir, Palestine, immense poverty of less-developed countries, illiteracy and gap between rich and poor countries.
Condemned to Violence: As long as we ignore downtrodden people, terrorism will not go away
By Ramzy Baroud, The Washington Post, 2 December 2002. “'Terrorism” is seen only in one context: the effect, but never the cause. We cannot be so blinded by our anger to the point that we fail to see how violence begets violence. If we are keenly interested in bringing terrorism to a halt, we must have the courage to examine its roots.
[On War with Iraq]
By Pat Buchanan, 12 February 2003. Why do these Islamic radicals so hate us? Historically, terror was a weapon of the weak and stateless against Western powers they could not defeat with arms. In each case, terror was used to expel an imperial power or drive out foreign troops. In each case but one, terror ended when the Western power went home.
Grievance-Driven vs. Ideology-Driven—A fundamental difference in terrorist groups, or a false dichotomy?
By Francisco Gil-White, The Emperor's clothes, 6 August 2003. A pro-Israeli-aggression perspective: Arafat's organizastion is a product of German Nazi movement; regardless of what the specific causes of terrorism in one place or another may be, it must carry with it an ideology: namely, that attacking innocent civilians is fair game.
The west and Islam in Indonesia
Opinion by Juwono Sudarsono, Indonesian Ambassador to UK, Jakarta Post, 4–5 November 2003. What were the reasons for so much hatred against the West among al-Qaeda and its followers? Sept. 11, 2001 was in a sense an inevitable consequence of the combination of America's pervasively dominant role as the world's “24/7” superpower and the unique combustible atmosphere of modern Middle East political economy.
’America's aggression is fuelling extremism’, says Iran's ex-president
By Robert Fisk, The Independent, 4 September 2006. The policies of the neo-conservatives have created a war that creates more extremists and radicals.
Nobel Laureates: Poverty Breeds Terrorism
Prensa Latina (Havana), 25 September 2006. Ten Nobel Peace Prizewinners warn that poverty breeds terrorism and demand that the billions spent on weapons of mass destruction be used instead to feed the hungry people of the world.