William Saletan.
[N]ot every act of political violence is terrorism.
Terrorism has a specific legal meaning.
Some definitions, such as the one in Title 18, Section 2331 of the U.S. Code (dangerous crimes intended “to influence the policy of a government”), are so absurdly broad that they could cover almost any politically motivated crime.
The tightest and best definition is the one in Title 22, Section 2656 of the U.S. Code: “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets.”
That’s the definition our government applies when documenting terrorism overseas.
The typical noncombatant target is an innocent civilian.
That’s what makes Sept. 11 and the ISIS hostage beheadings clear acts of terrorism.
By this standard, Chattanooga wasn’t terrorism, because the victims weren’t civilians.
All four were Marines.
Three had served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
. . . .
Chattanooga wasn’t the first attack on a military facility in the United States, and it won’t be the last.
We’ve been hit before, in Little Rock, Arkansas, and in Fort Hood, Texas.
According to the New America Foundation, 1 of every 3 Americans who have been accused of planning domestic attacks since Sept. 11—that’s nearly 40 people, out of 119—targeted military sites.
I’m glad many of those miscreants are sitting in prison.
And I’m sorry that a few succeeded.
But if they’re going to come after us, it’s better that they target our service members than our schools and buses.
We should aspire to more than winning this war, or the next one.
We should aspire, all of us, to ending the deliberate killing of civilians.
Some definitions, such as the one in Title 18, Section 2331 of the U.S. Code (dangerous crimes intended “to influence the policy of a government”), are so absurdly broad that they could cover almost any politically motivated crime.
The tightest and best definition is the one in Title 22, Section 2656 of the U.S. Code: “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets.”
That’s the definition our government applies when documenting terrorism overseas.
The typical noncombatant target is an innocent civilian.
That’s what makes Sept. 11 and the ISIS hostage beheadings clear acts of terrorism.
By this standard, Chattanooga wasn’t terrorism, because the victims weren’t civilians.
All four were Marines.
Three had served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
. . . .
Chattanooga wasn’t the first attack on a military facility in the United States, and it won’t be the last.
We’ve been hit before, in Little Rock, Arkansas, and in Fort Hood, Texas.
According to the New America Foundation, 1 of every 3 Americans who have been accused of planning domestic attacks since Sept. 11—that’s nearly 40 people, out of 119—targeted military sites.
I’m glad many of those miscreants are sitting in prison.
And I’m sorry that a few succeeded.
But if they’re going to come after us, it’s better that they target our service members than our schools and buses.
We should aspire to more than winning this war, or the next one.
We should aspire, all of us, to ending the deliberate killing of civilians.
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