DEFINING TERRORISM by Robert Flynn
September 20, 2001 George W. Bush said "Either you are with us, or you are against us. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime." (White House, 9/20/01)
Perhaps we should start with a definition. When the Reagan administration was found guilty of international terrorism by the International Criminal Court, Reagan formed a task force to write a definition of terrorism that would not include his actions in Central America. Edward Peck, former US Chief of Mission in Iraq and former ambassador to Mauritania, said "In 1985, when I was the Deputy Director of the Reagan White House Task Force on Terrorism, they asked us...to come up with a definition of terrorism that could be used throughout the government. We produced about six, and each and every case, they were rejected, because careful reading would indicate that our own country had been involved in some of those activities.
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