Bangladesh won't be another Afghanistan: Nizami

When you think of terrorism Bangaladesh doesn't exactly come to the front of the mind. For some reason this country isn't getting much coverage in the War On Terror, but according to this article there are "terrorists" active there: Bangladesh won’t be another Afghanistan: Nizami (By UNB, Dhaka, The Nation of Bangaladesh, Sat, 24 Dec 2005, 11:15:00)

The article quotes a speech by Jamaat-e-Islami chief Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami talking about some bombings that occurred recently in Bangaladesh. The culprits haven't been identified, but Nizami claims it's clearly the "terrorists". It's clear that what he means by "terrorists" are the Islamic people who are into bombs and fighting The West.

Probably what's going on stems from Bangladesh being an Islamic country. There is a movement among the Islamic countries for hardliner fundamentalists to convert their governments over to strict Islamic law. Bangaladesh is no doubt being affected by this movement.

The thing that stands out in this article is the broad brush stroke used to apply the "terrorist" label. This is a pattern a lot of people are following.

There are different organizations around the world who use terror tactics. If you label them all "the terrorists" that implies they're working together in some way. But why would you expect the Northern Ireland terrorists to be in cahoots with the Islamic terrorists or to be in cahoots with the Basque terrorists?

Terror is a tactic used by people fighting wars. In fact, the label of "Terror act" can clearly be placed on the "Shock and Awe" phase of the Iraq war. Both acts have the same goal, that is to induce "shock and awe" into an enemy. The difference is most terrorist groups try to work under the radar, on a shoestring budget, while the Shock and Awe phase of the Iraq war was funded by the U.S. Government and operated totally in the open.

In any case, I would really appreciate it if news commentators and others would remember, there are multiple groups who use terrorist tactics. It's innapropriate to label them all as "the terrorists" because it confuses the issue.