"Terrorist": Easy To Hate, Hard To Define

Without common agreement, politicians say, it is difficult to recruit support from other governments when the threat of a terrorist attack is imminent or help is needed against a terrorist campaign. As in the American-led invasion of Iraq that began March 19, 2003, the mention of terrorism alone will not win the international support needed for major military action, and countries will not close ranks against those they do not define as terrorists.

"Without a definition of terrorism it is impossible to formulate or enforce international agreements against terrorism," says Boaz Ganor, director of the Israel-based International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism.

In addition, he says, a universally endorsed definition would undercut attempts of violent organizations to gain legitimacy as "freedom fighters" and could eventually persuade them to abandon terror tactics...

..."The struggle to define terrorism," says Ganor, "is sometimes as hard as the struggle against terrorism itself."

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