Musings of Babalas

Terrorism

What is a terrorist?  I know this has been discussed many times before, but I would like some feedback to see if my line of thinking is in sync with other people.

If a country is occupied by a foreign countries soldiers, and the native people of that land want them out, and use any means at their disposal to fight these foreign occupiers - are they terrorists?

Here is the definition of terrorism from the American Heritage Dictionary:

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source

ter·ror·ism       (těr'ə-rĭz'əm)  Pronunciation Key  n.  The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons. Why is the definition above always applied to the native people who are occupied and not to the occupiers?  As far as the definition goes, to me, it applies more to the occupiers then to the native people who are occupied. Why are members of the Taliban in Afghanistan called terrorists?  All media - even here is Canada calls them a terrorist organization but yet give no details as to what they have done to deserve this label. A country - the U.S - invaded their country to set up a puppet government and they are fighting the occupiers of their land? How does that make them terrorists? Someone please enlighten me.

Accident or Intentional

I live in the greater Toronto area, and the Toronto Star is my newspaper of choice. I especially like the articles written by Haroon Siddiqui who I admire greatly.  I was on the Common Dreams website yesterday and noticed that one of his articles was posted there on Sunday. Went I went to read the story again today, from it's original source, which was the Toronto Star, it was conveniently missing from Haroon Siddiqui's list of recent articles. The subject of the article, is one which is sadly overlooked by most of the main stream media, so I am wondering if the Toronto Star has bowed to some external pressure by removing any  trace of the article in question? Some of the things that make you go mmmm...

Update:
I have sent an email to Haroon Siddiqui regarding the missing article and he has assured me that it is being fixed.

Update:

It is now a day later and although being assured by Haroon Siddiqui that it would be fixed, the links to the missing article are still not corrected.  One other thing which is interesting, I can understand one mistake regarding this article, but there is actually another area which links to Haroon Siddiqui's latest articles and the mysterious article is also missing from there.  Could I be reading too much into this?

Palestinian/Israeli Conflict - Question to ponder

Why is it that Israel,with reputedly the fourth strongest army in the world and equipped with the latest in military hardware is so scared of homemade Palestinian rockets. Saying these rockets are crude is an understatement and yet they are blamed for all Israeli attacks on Palestinians - even though they rarely  inflict casualties. Am I the only one who sees through this ancient Israeli - we are the victims - charade?

Our Prime Minister has unequivocably stated his stand that Israel has a right to defend itself but what about the Palestinians right to defend themselves? I have never heard anyone in the Canadian media question him on that. Why not? And what is his stand on that issue?

Opinion of Canada's role in Afghanistan conflict

I would like to hear from people in regards to their views of Canada's role in the current Afghanistan conflict. I myself believe that we should not be there. My view does not come from the recent increase in Canadian casualities. I have always thought that Canada should not get involved in America's conflicts.