The Difference Between Terrorists and "Freedom Fighters"
I'm tired of hearing the phrase "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter".
The phrase is used to describe Iraqi car bombers who kill innocent people in marketplaces and mosques. It is also used for Palestinian suicide bombers who kill innocent people at fast-food restaurants.
Here is the difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist:
A "freedom fighter" battles soldiers and other official representatives of enemy forces.
A "terrorist" deliberately targets and tries to kill innocent men, women and children.
Simple enough.
posted by The Phantom Republican @ 12:24 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Your wrong. People we would describe as freedom fighters have and do attacked civilians and use terroristic tactics. The israeli terrorists did so in the struggle for independence, as did the vietnamese in there struggle against the US.
It is not tactics that separate freedom fighters from terrorists.
Tactics are precisely what the difference is. Terrorists use tactics used to cause fear and terror among a populace in order to pressure a government. Freedom fighters attack the government, and not the people.
By your definition Hamas and Israel are terrorists, because they have attack primarily civilian targets. By this definition Hezbollah fighters are "freedom fighters" because their targets, aside from the kidknappings in Lebanon in the 1980s, have been military/government targets. I think there is no simple answer and things like motive, goals, target, weapons, state vs non-state actors and other factors must be considered.
Terrorists operate in small numbers and there is no hiarachy in terrorism where they can report to unlike with freedom fighters
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