Defining terrorism

Move over Webster, the United Nations is defining terrorism. The debate is moving along predictable lines to be sure. If the violence is directed against Israeli innocent civilians, then it's a "struggle against foreign occupation." If the violence is Israeli soldiers defending themselves, or the Israeli military taking out Palestinian bomb makers, then it's state-sponsored terrorism. We have not heard yet what Palestinian violence against Palestinians constitutes, except it's all Israel's fault.

According to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the United Nations is under special pressure to complete their work in light of the recent bombings in Egypt and London.

The rash of terrorist bombings in Britain, and most recently in Egypt, have prompted Secretary-General Kofi Annan to prod the U.N.'s 191 member states to speed up a long-delayed decision on one of the most politically sensitive issues in the world body: a definition of ”terrorism”.

”What has happened in the last few weeks, from London to Sharm el-Shaikh and others, gives us one more reason to press ahead and get a good definition of terrorism that we can all live with,” he told reporters Monday.

Years of attacks on innocent Israeli citizens, not to mention the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 and the subsequent bombings in Bali and Madrid, weren't worth speeding up the United Nations. But attacking a beach town in Egypt was the final straw. Now the United nations will take action, and the terrorists better watch out!

After all, we've seen what the UN can do in places like Rwanda and Darfur, and it's not pretty.

Here's my favorite quote:

Annan dismissed the charge that terrorism is being driven primarily by religion. ”It's not Islamic,” he said. ”I don't attach it to any specific religion. We've had it in England; we've had it in Spain; we've had it here.”

Let's see, who was it again behind the Madrid and London bombings again? Hmmmm.