Your nationalists are my terrorists. My freedom-fighters are your terrorists. What in principle distinguishes terrorism is indiscriminate violence. The terrorist justifies terror as the only weapon available to the weak. Mr. bin Laden, if indeed he is responsible for what happened on Sept. 11, has well and truly succeeded in getting the attention of Americans.
Vengeance is cried now.
It took a single act of terrorism in 1983 to get American troops out of Lebanon. President Ronald Reagan had sent them to sponsor order and democracy, but there were no complaints in Congress when he abruptly ordered home the survivors of a car bomb at U.S. military barracks. They were aimed specifically at the United States of America, for specific reasons. They were meant to harm the United States, and no one else. They were retaliation for specific things done by the United States, and for specific American policies carried out over the years.