Has motive for the killings been determined yet? Motive is what will diferentiate this killing as terrorism as opposed to murder. Attempted terrorism is terrorism.

The ironic thing about this act is that even if was intended as murder, the response to it developed it into a fairly effective terrorist act. The desired effect of a terrorist is political influence. A large response to their actions. As with 9/11, if the media, and the American people, would have muted their responses the terrorist act has no effect, and therefore fails. If the response is big, as it was in both of these cases, the campaign was successful.

I have been in the counter terrorism community for a number of years now, and I can tell you. The proper response to a terrorist attack it to a) prevent it from happening. b) if you can’t prevent it, make the response immediate. c) if you can’t make the response immediate, openly ignore it!

This will disarm the terrorist attack on all fronts. You will minimise casualties, possibly eliminate future terrorist opportunities, and minimise the political influence the action has on the target. We should quit giving these people ammunition. If we keep treating them like a legitimate army of a soveriegn state then we simply make them stronger!

The Tiller murder was terrorism by all criteria, this killing is on the bubble, I’d say.

No bets from me, Chris. “They” will undoubtedly at least raise the speculation. To me it becomes terrorism when you step past lone nut to group-supported efforts, even if only carried out by a lone nut.

Nice sucker bet though, Chris. By leaving “they” unspecified it’s a slam dunk win already. ;-)

Something really needs to be done about all these religious fanatics. Perhaps we can get someone to sponsor a bill that officially recognizes that the United States was not founded on Judeo/Christian/Muslim values and will not tolerate persecution by religious groups. Heh.