re: #369 kreyagg

If terrorism is an act of war, then shouldn’t we have invaded Saudi Arabia after 14 of its citizens did what they did on 9-11?

No, because they were not agents of the state, but the agents of a stateless organization, which was receiving direct support of a state that we did invade, and had declared war on the US in 1996. They considered the attacks an act of war. They considered themselves soldiers (of Allah) and their actions directly fit the classifications in the Geneva Conventions as illegal combatants.

What nation or what government attacked the US? Arguably Afghanistan, the government provided safe haven for the people who planned it. Maybe Germany, some of the planning took place there.

Answered above. You seem to be under the impression (naive and mistaken in my point of view) that only nation states can declare and enact war. Stateless organizations, it appears, hold the same standing as organized crime organizations regardless of their own actions and declarations that they have declared war and wage warfare against the US.

I stated before, I think that Terrorism is a crime.

This is the fundamental mistake in your position. Terrorism are acts undertaken via force using illegal combatants (as defined by international treaties which stipulate the rules of war) to effect political change. States and Stateless organizations can and do declare war - and they can and do act upon those declarations. If KSM and other AQ members prefer treatment as warriors, then they need to subscribe to and follow the rules of war as legal combatants. If they did this, even if they are not signatories of the treaties, they are subject to that level of treatment as the US is a signatory.

Considering terrorism as a crime is a flawed position that denies the actions and intent of the enemy. Acts of war are acts of war regardless if they are performed by states or stateless organizations. Equivocating terrorism - the intent of mass murder - to a mere crime is morally bankrupt. Furthermore, at the very least, regardless of your viewpoint, the fact that the organization of AQ declared war on the US in 1996 negates any definition of their acts as a crime.