Terrorists are not bad people

[EvilRomantic]

They are not bad people at all, and there are as many kinds of terrorists as normal people. Some of them are the mumba wumba type filled with aggression and contempt for other ways of life, some of them are the average Joe(the ones mentioned in the OP) who believes he is killing bad people just like our average Joe thinks he is going to war to kill the terrorists, and some of them are really romantics who believe they are sacrificing themselves for an Ideal and helping the world reaching the ideal way of life, judging by they wills and writings, and such human sacrifice has been there as long as humanity, regardless of religion or time.

[Taramere]

The point of defining certain acts as terrorist acts is that it gives governments the power to legislate against them. Greater power to investigate suspicious activities that may result in surprise attacks on civilians (September 11th, and the London bombings in July 2005). I don't think it really matters whether people want to define them as "not bad" "No worse, philosophically, than we in the west are...let's not be haters, peace etc"

 

The fact is that fundamentalist Islam hates and opposes the Western way of life. Declares jihad on infidels, and instructs its followers that they must do the same. I know there are many, many peaceful Muslims who follow Islamic traditions because doing so is part of their culture and identity. Similar thing with peaceful Christians who don't take the bible too literally, but who enjoy the sense of community and identity that their religion gives them.

 

It doesn't alter the fact that the texts of these religions are often pretty oppressive - and, in some cases, downright bloodthirsty. That certain passages can be adopted to rationalise all manner of cruelty. Regardless of whether the people who follow those texts to the letter are basically kind, empathic nice or whatever...once they start trying to use terror tactics to inflict the oppressive aspects of their religion on others who don't accept it - whether that involves fundamentalist Christians attacking doctors who perform abortions, or fundamentalist Muslims blowing themselves up in crowded public areas, it seems perfectly fair for governments to label them as terrorists and to accordingly bring in measures to prevent the tragic outcomes their activities can bring about.

 

It's not as though the US and Western Europe are in the grip of civil war/neighbouring countries fighting eachother. If we were, then it might be harder to distinguish between terrorist action and tactical attacks that are made as part of an existing war.