a faulty analogy

"one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." that, or something like it, was a fairly popular expression among the left near the beginning of the war in iraq. i believe michael moore even compared the suicide bombers and militia thugs we're facing in iraq to our own minutemen during the revolutionary war... which i'll forgive him for, because when you're thinking about twinkies, it's hard to think about anything else.

you could, i suppose, define both terrorists and freedom fighters as very similar things, but their methods are very different. both groups tend to be weaker than their opponents, and as such would rely mainly on guerrilla tactics; which, while cowardly, are effective. plus, in their defense, attempting to stand toe-to-toe with the american military at this point is pretty much suicide.

the most noticeable difference between the two groups is the target of their guerrilla attacks. both will attack military targets; and while i regret every soldier lost to the barbarians we're fighting, i do consider soldiers to be a legitmate target for attack. but the terrorists don't stop there... in fact, they really don't spend much time there at all. instead, they attack the civilian population... the very group that freedom fighters would be working to liberate, terrorists are trying to blow up. there's no "cultural relativism" or "gray area" here; intentionally targeting and killing civilians is always wrong.