Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What's an Insurgent? What's a Terrorist?
Tech Central Station ^ | July 1, 2004 | Steven L. Taylor

Posted on 06/30/2004 8:50:48 PM PDT by quidnunc

As a student of Latin American politics, the word "insurgency" brings to mind myriad images and groups, from the iconic Ché Guevara and his beret to numerous Marxist guerrilla groups that operated in the region during the Cold War. Setting aside the wrong-headedness of their ideology for a moment, and acknowledging that in many cases extreme and unjustifiable violence was committed in the name of those ideas, I can't help but note the difference between those "insurgents" and what we are seeing operating in Iraq.

The difference is quite stark: even the most violent of Marxist guerrillas in Latin America were at least ostensibly fighting for utopian dreams of social justice. They fought against the oligarchy, they fought for the peasant and the urban laborer and their goals were to create a society in which all could live in peace and equality. At least on paper they sought victory to improve the lives of their fellow citizens.

Now, I will wholly grant that these were dreams of the most fanciful type. However, one could at least see a romantic struggle (as many on Left in United States did see) in these fights. And there were even cases where one could at least understand why the militants in question took up arms against regimes that were far from perfect, and in many cases openly tyrannical.

So while it is ultimately true that the fight to establish socialist utopia was both misguided and likely to result in new tyrannies (e.g., the Castro regime), there was at least a positive goal in the minds of those who fought. They might have killed to achieve their goals, but the killing itself was never the goal.

Contrast that to the black-hooded thugs who decapitated Nicolas Berg and Kim Sun-Il, or to the faceless villains who explode car bombs on the crowded streets of Baghdad with no concern for the death caused to civilians. At least the guerrilla wars of the past mostly (although by no means exclusively) took their fights directly to the state and the military, not to families shopping at the local market.

-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at techcentralstation.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Extended News; War on Terror
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-44 next last

1 posted on 06/30/2004 8:50:48 PM PDT by quidnunc
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: quidnunc
What's an Insurgent? What's a Terrorist?

"The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not `insurgents' or `terrorists' or `The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow — and they will win."
--Michael Moore

Hope that helps.

2 posted on 06/30/2004 8:52:59 PM PDT by South40 (Amnesty for ILLEGALS is a slap in the face to the USBP!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: South40

"The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not `insurgents' or `terrorists' or `The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow — and they will win."
--Michael Moore

Bring it on fat boy.....

The terrorists in Iraq are desperate...its over for them, they know it and honestly have no shot at winning....


3 posted on 06/30/2004 9:01:44 PM PDT by MikefromOhio (Kerry renames the US The People's Republic of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MikeinIraq

Welcome to FR!


4 posted on 06/30/2004 9:03:03 PM PDT by South40 (Amnesty for ILLEGALS is a slap in the face to the USBP!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: South40

thank you


5 posted on 06/30/2004 9:06:25 PM PDT by MikefromOhio (Kerry renames the US The People's Republic of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: MikeinIraq

Insurgent.................. Terrorist
6 posted on 06/30/2004 9:07:05 PM PDT by endthematrix (To enter my lane you must use your turn signal!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: quidnunc

Damned good question (one I've been asking myself lately), and from what I've scanned, damned good article too - BTTT for later reading.


7 posted on 06/30/2004 9:07:39 PM PDT by KangarooJacqui (I'm here, I'm conservative, if that's queer, you'll just have to live... with it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: endthematrix

same difference...


8 posted on 06/30/2004 9:09:28 PM PDT by MikefromOhio (Kerry renames the US The People's Republic of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: endthematrix

Two pictures are worth ten thousand words. Nevertheless:

Merriam-Webster online

Main Entry: 1in·sur·gent
Pronunciation: -j&nt
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin insurgent-, insurgens, present participle of insurgere to rise up, from in- + surgere to rise -- more at SURGE
1 : a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government; especially : a rebel not recognized as a belligerent
2 : one who acts contrary to the policies and decisions of one's own political party

Main Entry: ter·ror·ism
Pronunciation: 'ter-&r-"i-z&m
Function: noun
: the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion


9 posted on 06/30/2004 9:14:03 PM PDT by GretchenM (Sqwush Sen. Murray!!!!! Elect George Nethercutt US SENATOR!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

I found this especially interesting, in the M-W definition for "insurgent":

"... especially : a rebel not recognized as a belligerent"

Hey, media types: Square peg, round hole.


10 posted on 06/30/2004 9:15:32 PM PDT by GretchenM (Sqwush Sen. Murray!!!!! Elect George Nethercutt US SENATOR!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: quidnunc

An insurgent is a terrorist with cabfare.


11 posted on 06/30/2004 9:17:59 PM PDT by Old Professer (Interests in common are commonly abused.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MikeinIraq

I carry a digital pager while I'm at work and it sends me news headlines. I can't tell you how many times I open it up to catch up on the news and want to throw it against the wall every time it reads, "Insurgents killed planting a roadside bomb," or something similar.

SOOOOO DAMN MADDENING!


12 posted on 06/30/2004 9:19:04 PM PDT by RandallFlagg (<a href="http://www.michaelmoore.com" target="_blank">Hatriotism)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: RandallFlagg

kill them all....

you can ask the civilians of Baghdad, they feel terror when the bombs go off, so that makes them terrorists....

the people of Baghdad would feel liberated if the insurgents were on their side. but the good people of Baghdad understand which said is which...


13 posted on 06/30/2004 9:21:33 PM PDT by MikefromOhio (Kerry renames the US The People's Republic of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: GretchenM

Yes, the dictionary definition is correct.
The media should be withdrawn from Iraq.
They don't know the difference between good and evil.


14 posted on 06/30/2004 9:24:41 PM PDT by Embedded Freeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: MikeinIraq

And another thing...

The media keeps calling them, "IRAQI insurgents." If memory serves, the only cowards doing these crimes that are from Iraq are the ones Saddam released from prison right before the bombing started in March. The rest flooded across the borders from other countries like Iran, and Syria.

And the press never says a single word about this.


15 posted on 06/30/2004 9:24:43 PM PDT by RandallFlagg (<a href="http://www.michaelmoore.com" target="_blank">Hatriotism)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: RandallFlagg

Some idiots in the press want us to put Saddam back in power and leave the region all togther too...


Gotta consider the source...


16 posted on 06/30/2004 9:27:08 PM PDT by MikefromOhio (Kerry renames the US The People's Republic of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: quidnunc; MeekOneGOP; potlatch; devolve; Happy2BMe
Insurgents or Terrorists...


17 posted on 06/30/2004 9:30:45 PM PDT by Smartass ( BUSH & CHENEY IN 2004 - Si vis pacem, para bellum - Por el dedo de Dios se escribió.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: quidnunc

It seems to me the fundamental difference is the type of targets that the person attacks.

If you attack military, economic, and political targets of the new Iraqi regimes (or the US) you are a guerilla, militant, etc.

If you attack civilians you are a terrorist.

So, 9/11 - terrorism, Nick Berg - terrorism, assassinating Iraqi leaders - guerilla warfare, etc.

The thing is though, if you blur the line between the two, you are a terrorist. And that is true of what we see in Iraq.

Even if they stuck to guerilla warfare though, ala the VC, that still wouldn't change the immorality of their "resistance".


18 posted on 06/30/2004 9:35:23 PM PDT by swilhelm73 (We always have been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be detested in France.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RandallFlagg

Actually, I have a *strong* suspicion that many of the terrorists we are fighting are Palistinians, brought through Syria into Iraq.

Not many groups can boast of members willing to perform suicide attacks. Even for 9/11, for example, not all of the hijackers knew they were on a suicide mission.

But one particular group in the Arab world has shown itself more then willing to strap on a bomb for Allah...and that would be the Palis...


19 posted on 06/30/2004 9:38:44 PM PDT by swilhelm73 (We always have been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be detested in France.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: swilhelm73
Even if they stuck to guerilla warfare though, ala the VC, that still wouldn't change the immorality of their "resistance".

I feel that they're lucky to be fighting against our troops. I can imagine what would happen to them if they were caught by Iraqi troops who've seen their kids fed to wild animals by Saddam's cowards.

Myself being a Father, I'd show absolutely NO mercy.
20 posted on 06/30/2004 9:39:18 PM PDT by RandallFlagg (<a href="http://www.michaelmoore.com" target="_blank">Hatriotism)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-44 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson