Terrorism.. who defined it anyway?

I have often thought of that question whenever I watched CNN. One day it's Saudi's who launched an attack on the infamous towers, another day it's insurgents in Iraq, then it's Hezbollah in Lebanon; the French were a close call...

I come from a middle eastern background, and latley I have been getting many "jokes" that relate, in one way or another to terrorism. The particular issue in getting such remarks, is not that I'm bothered by being accused of such horrendous behaviour, but rather that the media in North America has succeeded in tieing Terrorism with Middle Eastern people.

I don't blame the average Joe in NA, of being brainwashed, because they can't really help it. The avreage viewer is given a wide range of news staions all Americanized with hardly any balance in viewpoints.

The definition of Terrorism is given to us here in NA, by the news stations who in turn get it from the government. Let's examine some facts here, Sadam wasn't a terrorist when the US was benefiting from the Iraqi-Iranian war, but as soon as he turned against them (which is a long story in its self) he became a terrorist. The same goes for the Taliban when they were fighting the Soviets, and on and on. Even western countries get trashed in the media once they oppose the US, remeber freedom fries? or the sudden (media and political) attack on the UN when Kofi Anan opposed the war against Iraq.

I guess the point of is that we should be careful of being parrots repeating whatever the media says, we can think on our own, analyze facts and investigate further... Next time you mention the word terrorist, think of the young kids in Iraq who have no clean water, no saftey and perhaps lost parents in an illegal war, who would they define as terrorists?