Terrorism Double Standards

The Houston Chronicle on GO RUDOLPH? Violence to support beliefs is not heroism, but terrorism:

After Saturday's arrest of Eric Rudolph, the suspect charged with the bombing at the 1996 Olympics, attacks on abortion clinics and a gay nightclub, The New York Times ran a front-page photograph of a sign outside a Peachtree, N.C., diner reading, "Pray for Eric Rudolph." The accompanying story quotes the restaurant's proprietress as saying, "Bless his heart. Eric needs our help." Hearing such statements is causing many people to question whether Rudolph had help in his five-year evasion of a $20 million manhunt. Such sentiments make us wonder how anyone could mistake this suspected terrorist for a hero.

Rudolph was arrested Saturday in Murphy, N.C., rummaging through a garbage bin for food. Since then, residents in and around the area have expressed support, if not for Rudolph, then for the "ideals" he espoused. Several people pointed out that they resented the assumption that they and their neighbors helped Rudolph evade arrest, and they disavowed his violent methods. But too many also said they would not have turned him in, even for the million-dollar bounty on his head.

People who commit the types of crimes that Eric Rudolph is supected of aren't just simple criminals. They are truly terrorists. Their methods of delivery may differ by occuring on a much smaller scale than Al Qaeda or the I.R.A., but they are no less terroristic in nature. Blowing up an abortion clinic for the express purpose of making a religious or political point is terrorism. Killing abortion doctors because you disagree with abortion and wish to intimidate others into dropping the practice is another form of terrorism. Let's stop pretending that only the Irish and those who pervert Islam for personal gain are capable of committing acts of terror. Christians who pervert their theology in an attempt to violently force political or social change are no less deserving of the title of terrorist. To call them anything less would be perverse.

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