zero wrote: Daniel Mayer wrote:
On the other hand the fact that a great many people regard OBL to be a terrorist is one of the big reasons why he is famous.
No, most of his fame is due to his organizing a couple of planes to fly into the WTC. Some is due to his other attacks.
Hello!! Slamming civilian commercial jets into civilian office buildings killing thousands and destroying a national icon is terrorism no matter how you parse it! I for one was depressed for a month after I saw the towers fall on live television even though I live on the opposite coast and do not directly know a single person killed that day. That's terrorism.
The attack on the Pentagon is only half terrorism by some interpretations due to the fact that the Pentagon itself is a military target. Flight 93 also may or may not be considered terrorism based on ones own interpretation. The people on the plane were certainly innocent civilians, however (except for the suicide hijackers of course).
But the WTC attack was certainly a terrorist act. That makes whoever planned them a terrorist. Since we do not know for certain that OBL did in fact plan them, we can only state, as fact, that the suicide hijackers in the WTC attack were terrorists. OBL is just widely considered to be a terrorist since he is the number one mastermind suspect.
-- mav