War on Terrorists - who does this include?

[CoffeeIsGod]

So we are at war with terrorists. Who does this include?

Obviously we have bin Laden's group (and whoever is supporting them)
Jihad
Hizballah
Tamil Tigers
IRA
ETA
.....

 

[LocutusX]

I'm pretty sure they're just referring to the Muslim extremist organizations, for the moment.

 

[Napalm]

The Jihad is not a group - it is a an Islamic word than means something like "noble endeavor". According to some people's reading of the Koran (their bible), a Jihad is usually non-violent unless it is directed at removing Infandels (non-islamics??) from Islamic lands. Moderates will tell you that the Koran does not condone any violent Jihads. In the case of the U.S. - they sent troops to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War and the troops never left. Bin Laden views them as an occupying force and has issued a Jihad (in this case violent) to remove them. This means that both Arabic and Asian muslims (i.e., Islamics) who are extremist in nature believe that they have a cause to attack the U.S.

Anyhow, I think that the U.S. is now basically at war with the extremist elements of Islam. They do not live in one country, they don't wear signs saying "I am an extremist element of Islam", and they are not going to be easy to deal with. Also, they value dying in the name of Islam - so bombing them is not going to be a big deterrent...

Napalm

 

[rival]

jihad, by definition...

ji·had also je·had (j-häd)
n.
A Muslim holy war or spiritual struggle against infidels.
A crusade or struggle: ?The war against smoking is turning into a jihad against people who smoke? (Fortune).

so a jihad could be peaceful, just, for the lack of better words, "their" word for this 'war' and 'i' like 'using' quotations 'in' my posts'.'

 

[LocutusX]

Actually, I was led to believe Jihad meant Holy War but I suppose that's just one interpretation of the word.

 

[LocutusX]

Also, if it's any consolation to the safety and security of some of the people here... I doubt any of the non-Islamic-extremist "terrorist organizations" have the USA in their sights -- they tend to be more along the line of "Freedom Fighters" (meant to support a particular cause and only that cause). Although the line between "terrorist" and "freedom fighter" is always blurred and subject to debate.

You could say that a Freedom Fighter is someone who attacks only soldiers or military, and a Terrorist is one who attacks everyone indiscriminately. By that definition, in today's world, most self-styled Freedom Fighters are Terrorists because of their use of bombs in public places.

 

[ignorus]

I think support for the war will die off after we get Bin Laden. We will then probably resort to economic sanctions against the countries that harbor the lower level players.

 

[NakaNaka]

jihad does mean Holy War ....

See my biggest problem with this war is that their network spans the entire world and is so large ... So we capture binladen and his friends ..... That does jack if there is a Muslim extremist with a bomb in Chicago ....

 

[LocutusX]

Exactly. That's why we (the West) are in for some dark times.

 

[Napalm]

NO. Jihad does not mean holy war. There is no such word in the Islamic glossary.

The term "holy war" was coined by the west - in fact, the term was first used to describe the Crusades whcih were leveled against muslims.

Jihad means "noble endeavour" or more literally "striving". Now, if someone were to argue that definitions are fluid and not static, then I would agree that Jihad has come to mean "holy war", but its literal translation has nothing to do with war.

Cheers,
Napalm

 

[Napalm]

Jihad definition

 

[Napalm]

and again, another definition

 

[Midnight Rambler]

Osama is but one key to the puzzle.

The potential list of countries with enemy terrorist factions includes pretty much the whole Middle East, some of which might appear to be our allies. Egypt, for example. Mubarak is on shaky ground, and there is a lot of terrorist activity originating from there. Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, ..... it'd be easier to count the number of countries that don't have some sort of tie-in, somewhere along the line. In fact I'm hard pressed to name one.

 

[b0mbrman]

I think the list is going to expand as we continue to find out stuff...

 

[pamchenko]

i'm sure the arctic avengers had something to do with this