Terrorism as defined by the U.S. and other organizations is: activities that involve violent... or life-threatening acts... that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State and... appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping...."

My entire adult life the U.S. government has been, according to their own definition, involved in terrorist activities: 1953 installation of the Shah of Iran which was the use of force to influence and affect a government; the invasion of Afghanistan followed by the invasion of Iraq. Both of which, again, were the use of violent means and life-threatening acts meant to influence governments.

The arrogance of the U.S. government knows no bounds. They throw the word "terrorism" around with such abandon and frequency that it has almost become a cliché. Because of this, the de-facto definition of terrorism, as propagated by the U.S. government, has become: anything somebody else does that the U.S. government doesn't like. And since the U.S. government has redefined the term then they couldn't possibly ever be guilty of it themselves.

Maybe this is why it struck me so poignantly the other day when I arrived at Atlanta's Hartsfield airport and ran into one of our government's most effective terrorist propaganda machines: the United Services Organization or USO.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/cooper/cooper20.1.html