Originally Posted by
benblaney
A U.S. Army manual defines terrorism as "the use of violence, or the threat of the use of violence, to bring about social, ideological, religious or political change".
The U.S. has used violence to bring about political changes in a number of countries (often assisting with the overthrow of democratically-elected governments). The U.S., therefore is also a state sponsor of terrorism.
Indeed. I remember when Colin Powell was asked why the U.S. was bombing civilians in Belgrade, as these civilians had committed no offence against the USA. His candid response was that the U.S. would continue to kill Serb civilians until they changed their government. If that's not a clear example of someone trying "to use violence to bring about political change," then I don't know what is. The real, unwritten definition of "terrorism" in the U.S. lexicon is "violence by people we don't agree with".