So maybe I'm way off base, but it has always been my understanding that the word "terrorist" was reserved for a person who hopes to achieve the destruction of an ideology/religion/government through indiscriminate killing. This is why people like Osama Bin Laden qualify as a terrorist; they hate the idea of democracy and hope to bring it down through random acts of violence.
Terrorists are not people that want money and other tangible goods in exchange for the safe return of hostages, or the disarming of a bomb, etc, etc, etc. This is why when someone robs a bank, we don't refer to them as "terrorists," rather, "bank robbers."
So why in the world does Bill O'reilly and many other members of the fox news channel continue to refer to these Somali pirates as terrorists? After all, they attack boats looking for money and goods to steal, and take hostages if they feel they can get a ransom. There's no ideological war here, or some sort of desire to undo the West - they just want cold hard cash.
So please, for the love of God, stop calling these people terrorists. Not every criminal born outside of the US is a terrorist. Let's not drag the "war on terror" into every single current event. Frankly it just makes you sound stupid.
