I just heard popular San Francisco talk-show host Bernie Ward (KGO, 810AM, M-F10pm) just deny that arab suicide bombers were terrorists. If they are not terrorists, who is? He defended the suicide bombers as people who were legitimately fighting for a cause in a manner that they know how. If they are terrorists, he argues, then so are the Americans of the Boston Tea Party, Nelson Mandela, and Israeli soldiers who have incidental civilian casualties while hitting a military target.

He has his free speech, but I think that people should boycott KGO sponsors. A terrorist is someone who kills innocent civilians for the purpose of terrorizing the population. The Boston Tea Party did not kill anyone. I don't know whether Nelson Mandela killed anyone, but no one ever considered him a political prisoner, so he may have been a terrorist. It is not terrorism for soldiers to be killing other soldiers in a declared war. If the Israelis are hitting military targets, then it is not terrorism.