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"War on Terror"
Feb. 1st, 2007 12:10 pmThe title of today's post is in quotes because it's the stupidest possible name for what we're engaged in. "Terror" is a tactic, not an ideology nor an entity. We could announce that we are at war with terrorists, or Islamic fundamentalists.
The problem with the first idea (war against terrorists) is that we don't have a good definition of "terrorist." (One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.) Well, actually, we used have an internationally-accepted definition of "terrorist." We called them "pirates."
Today, you say the word pirate and everybody snickers, thinking of Johnny Depp. But piracy was a real problem, involving the looting and burning of entire cities. Well, some bright legal thinker did his historical research and came up with a working definition of terrorism based on existing law about piracy. (Hat tip Making Light) The article is worth a read.
There's a second problem. Some people seem to be convinced that there is no such thing as "Islamic Fundamentalism." Today's Exhibit is also from Making Light - their post and discussion on the British beheading plot. (The comment thread is especially interesting.)
I fully agree that, as a matter of law and fairness, the accused deserve a presumption of innocence. However, I do not accept the arguments being made there that there is no such thing as Islamic fundamentalism, or that such beliefs aren't a threat to our civilization.
The problem with the first idea (war against terrorists) is that we don't have a good definition of "terrorist." (One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.) Well, actually, we used have an internationally-accepted definition of "terrorist." We called them "pirates."
Today, you say the word pirate and everybody snickers, thinking of Johnny Depp. But piracy was a real problem, involving the looting and burning of entire cities. Well, some bright legal thinker did his historical research and came up with a working definition of terrorism based on existing law about piracy. (Hat tip Making Light) The article is worth a read.
There's a second problem. Some people seem to be convinced that there is no such thing as "Islamic Fundamentalism." Today's Exhibit is also from Making Light - their post and discussion on the British beheading plot. (The comment thread is especially interesting.)
I fully agree that, as a matter of law and fairness, the accused deserve a presumption of innocence. However, I do not accept the arguments being made there that there is no such thing as Islamic fundamentalism, or that such beliefs aren't a threat to our civilization.
