by Brian Tomlinson

Created on: April 14, 2009   Last Updated: April 16, 2009

Some things are easier said than done, and defining terrorism is probably the most difficult task that anyone, any country, or countries will undertake. As with pornography, one's first impulse may be to say, I may not be able to define it, but I know it when I see it. The assumption is made that when a bus explodes in Najf, or a bomb is detonated in a downtown mall in Jerusalem, that a terrorist act has occurred. However this is where it gets complicated. The argument over revolutionary violence, national liberation, guerrilla movements, and underground movements and what relation it has to terrorism, if any, begins.

Iran and Syriahave always supported "national liberation movements", those groups or organizations that struggle against occupation. A clear example is from a 1986 speech of President Hafez el-Assad when he stated "We have always opposed terrorism. But terrorism is one thing and national struggle against occupation is another. We are against terrorismNevertheless; we support the struggle against occupation waged by national liberation movements." This almost makes attempting to define terrorism meaningless and fruitless. The statements of President Assad and pronouncements from the Arab world are contradictory. In a conference of the fifth Islamic summit a stated resolutions was that there was a dire need to end unlawful terrorists' activities that are perpetrated by individuals, groups or states. However it was their goal to differentiate between these unlawful acts of terrorism and "legitimate" struggle of oppressed nations against foreign occupation.

This illuminates the statement of one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Scholars have outlined the key components that constitute what the definition of terrorism should contain. It is well established that an accepted and agreed-upon definition of terrorism would not only satisfy an academic premise but would also satisfy facilitating operations on an international scale as well.
The definition of terrorism must contain the use of violence or the threat of violence, and it must be against non-combatants, this fact will prove the indiscriminate nature of the violence. The most important element of the definition is, that it must be toward a political end, meaning that the aim of the activity must always be political- mainly to attain political objectives; changing the regime, changing the people in power, changing economic or social policies, therefore, the lack of anyone of these

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