The Foreign Service Journal, September 2004

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 43 F O C U S O N C O U N T E R T E R R O R I S M T HE A NATOMY OF T ERRORISM y former boss, Secretary of State George Shultz, was a pretty unhappy camper whenever anyone repeated the cliché that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” but the thought carries a lot of truth. I once asked him why the French underground, which resorted to assassinations and bomb- ings during World War II, and which was looked on by the Nazis and the Vichy regime as “terrorists” — and by us as freedom fighters — didn’t illustrate the validity of that characterization. He simply insisted that they were “not terrorists.” M T ERRORISM IS AN INSTRUMENT OR TACTIC — A WEAPON , NOT AN ENEMY . T HUS , A “ WAR ” ON TERRORISM MAKES NO MORE SENSE THAN A “ WAR ” ON WAR . B Y R ONALD S PIERS Phil Foster