 Former world leaders appealed to the United Nations on Thursday to come up with a definition of terrorism, arguing that political aims should never be used as an excuse to kill innocent civilians.
| "Oh, terrorism! We just can't decide what it is..." |
The issue of a definition has long been one of the most delicate, in part because governments often use violence to accomplish goals. But delegates to a four-day conference here on terrorism suggested that drawing up a simple concept with international consensus would be the first step in averting more attacks. "There is no cause under the sun that could justify the deliberate killing of civilians," said Anand Panyarachun, former prime minister of Thailand. "The killing of civilians is unjustified under any circumstance."
| That's pretty deliberately phrased to rule out taking any military action, anywhere, just in case there happens to be an innocent bystander. It's a recipe for doing nothing. |
The United Nations has long struggled with this issue, lacking agreement on just what constitutes terrorism. Some states want one to exempt "freedom fighters," while others insist any definition must cover governments and their soldiers.
| Ohfergawdsake. Action by uniformed military formations is not terrorism, despite the many attempts to tag the U.S. or Israel with the "state terrorism" tag. Regular militaries may commit war crimes, even atrocities, but they're not terrorists. "Freedom fighters" who limit their attacks to military targets likewise aren't terrorists; they're guerrillas. Terrorists target both civilian and military targets, and they carry out their operations for the purpose of instilling terror (that's why they call it that) in the hearts of the locals. This is not brain surgery, it's not rocket science, though it might be deliberate obtuseness. |
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict typifies the dilemma in coming up with a definition.
| Hey, no kiddin'! Pretty hard to convolute a definition that excludes Paleos from the label, since they're the archetype. |
The Palestinians have argued, for example, they are justified in resisting Israel's military occupation by using suicide bombs against civilians while the Israelis say such tactics are unacceptable.
However, delegates insist that having a common understanding on what terrorism is would permit the United Nations and other world bodies to fight it jointly and help create laws that would allow for prosecution of the perpetrators.
| The UN fights nothing but change, though it does skirmish with the occasional corruption investigator... |
During a panel debate, Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the League of Arab States [Arab League], did not argue against creating a definition, as long as the United Nations was involved. But he stressed that counterterrorism efforts should focus more on the causes of extremist violence.
| Somehow, I don't think he's calling for the international community to bump off more holy men... |
The discussion came only hours before U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was set to deliver a key policy speech before dozens of terrorism experts and former world leaders. Annan's address is expected to be the highlight of the session, which was timed to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Madrid train bombings. The attack, believed to have been carried out by Islamic extremists, killed 191 people and injured more than 1,500. "We live in one world and the issue of terrorism affects us all," Annan said after meeting Spain's prime minister. "When the people of Madrid are hit or people in New York are hit, it does have an effect on all of us."
| "Not that it's our place to do anything about it, of course. But we can sympathize. Briefly." |
Annan said he wanted to express solidarity with the victims of the Madrid attack and to affirm the United Nation's determination to work with governments and people around the world to try to prevent such bloodshed.
| Oh, solidarity. That always helps. |
He and other world leaders and experts attending the summit here on democracy, terrorism and security are grappling with ways to combat violence without jeopardizing human rights. The experts have begun offering their recommendations ahead of Friday's final session. In one key area - financing terrorism - experts urged world leaders to create an international institution under U.N. auspices to track the elusive methods terrorists use to raise money. The draft recommendation said measures undertaken so far to curb terrorist financing were insufficient to cut the flow of funds to al-Qaida and other international terrorist groups. Foreign policy experts warned that nations must join together to fight terrorism - rather than letting differences of opinion weaken their resolve. As a first step, the United Nations must step forward to take the lead, delegates said.
| It's been, by my count, 42 months since 9-11-01. And as a "first step" the UN must step forward to take the lead? Whoopdy doo. |
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