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The UN's Terrorism Gap

(Los Angeles Times) Joshua Muravchik - A proposed UN convention against terrorism has been stalled since 1997. The holdup? How to define terrorism. The Islamic states insist that terrorism must be defined not by the nature of the act but by its purpose. Putting a bomb in a market or train or bus is not an act of terrorism, they say, if it is done for a righteous purpose; namely national liberation or resistance to occupation. The real question is whether it is ever legitimate to target women, children, and other noncombatants. For the Islamic states, the answer is yes. The writer is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
2005-09-23 00:00:00
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