Tuesday, August 15, 2006

No Terrorist Link

Per CNN.comThe FBI declares that they can find no terrorism link to the three Texas "Palestinian-Americans" arrested in Michigan after buying nearly 1000 cell phones and discarding the chargers (presumably with a chip useful for bombs). However, what "links" are necessary to make someone a terrorist?

Michigan prosecutors are sticking with terrorism charges.

I am not pre-judging these individuals. I am saying that IF they were intent on blowing up or disrupting a bridge in Michigan, they don't need specific links to al-Qaeda, Hamas, or Hezbollah to make them terrorists. IF they planned acts to harm innocent civilians in the name of an ideology (Islam in this case), they are terrorists.

For that matter, there were three of them. IF guilty of such plans, they were and are a terrorist organization of at least three people.

But what about the lone gunman in Seattle or the lone SUV driver who killed or aimed to harm in the name of Islam? It seems to me that they are terrorists, even if they acted alone, without the support of a specific terrorist organization. (We will leave the question whether Islam is a terrorist organization for another day.) Planning an act of terror in the name of an ideology is terrorism, whether the perpetrator is alone or conspiring with others. Isn't it?

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