mindless rambling

So in question to day is the exact defintion of terrorism...most seem to paint some type of picture of Arab men planting bombs or taking over airplanes, but lets try to get more specific. Terrorism is the attack of civilians in order to accomplish political aims. This is usually carried out by people or groups who are not offical nation states (although many want to be, and some would claim to be) Ok this defintion seems sound, but in reality what does being a nation state have to do with anything...does the fact that US forces are responsible for what now appears to be well of 40,000 civilian deaths in Iraq (for lastest figures chreck this weeks Economist) qualify it for the postion of greatest terrorist threat. Were do we draw this ambigious gray line, claiming one act a just act of war, with some unfortunate casulties, and the other act is evil and totally unjust.

Maybe there{s not an easy answer, one mans terrorism is anothers just war...but maybe we as a colective whole should take a step back and think about this question for a bit longer before we make our next move