Does that mean we’re going to Northern Ireland?
Yup!
And Peru, and Montana, and the Basque area of Spain, and the Pacific Northwest, and Colombia, and Puerto Rico, and Algeria, and Chechnya, and Japan, and Mexico, and Quebec, and…
As long as we stay out of Alabama. That place scares me.
I volunteer to send a regiment to Chile and El Salvador!
“Terrorist” is kind of a hazy concept. The mujahedin, which nobody will deny are terrorist organizations now, were “Freedom Fighters” when it suited US interests to fund them during the Cold War.
You go to Queen’s?
Anyway - where are there terrorists in Quebec?
I think this is a great question. I have wondered the same thing. If this hasn’t been covered in GD yet, you might want to post there for some heavy duty discussion.
I guess I don’t really have a whole lot more to add except to say that it seems unlikely. We will likely use the “Freedom Fighters” style semantic tricks to get out of it. It seems as though the Global War on Terrorism is a way to get many nations to rally around our cause with the implication we will be assisting them with their problems as well. In reality, I think we will continue to pick and choose each on an individual basis depending on how the “terrorist” group affects the US or our allies and what costs (politically and otherwise) are involved.
I could be completely off my rocker though.
Bush visited with Junichiro Koizumi today, so we will be helping with the guys who released noxious stuff in the subways of Japan.
I thought about the IRA; they don’t count with NATO by virtue of being part of Great Britain, right?
What about those people who drive spikes into trees and put nails on logging roads?
What about those people who pour cat fetuses (fetii?) at fashion shows?
What about those people who do bad things outside of abortion clinics?
What about those people who post stupid crap on message boards?
O.K. I’ll stop now.
Note to Bush: If you’re informant says the terrorists are based on Dantooine, she’s lying.
Note to Dantooine: Leia is willing to send a moon-sized death machine to your planet to save her friends.
FLQ. Radical separatists and “Language Purists.”
They have bombed a couple of “Second Cup” coffee franchises because they don’t translate their name into french. Similar attacks have been made against McDonald’s, because they don’t drop the apostrophe as they would if it were a french-language sign.
Here’s an english translation of their 1970 manifesto.
[hijack]
Anyone besides me thinks it’s odd to read an English translation of the original manifesto of a group calling for the end of the “English-speaking bosses”?
[/hijack]
The FLQ hasn’t existed for thirty years, and “Radical separatists” aren’t terrorists, unless they actually blow things up - and the FLQ hasn’t existed for thirty years. If anyone’s blowing stuff up in Quebec, it’s biker gangs.
“Language purists” aren’t terrorist, either, or else William Safire would be in jail right now.
I think it’s useful to at least agree that a “terrorist” is someone who commits violent political acts, not just someone you dislike. Furthermore, the current issue has to do with international terrorism - not domestic crime - or else we’ll be defining every violent criminal, right down to the guy who robs a liquor store, as a “terrorist.” If you’re got an internal terrorist problem, I’d say it’s your job to deal with it. But international terrorism necessitates an international response.
I agree with you on both your definition of “terrorist” and your exclusion of internal terrorism in the “Global War on Terrorism.” Using that definition, how do you think the OP will be addressed?
I think that groups in Northern Ireland, Chechneya, Israel, the West Bank, Japan, etc. can be defined as terrorists. Will the US act against all of these in the same manner the are acting agains Al-Qaeda? If not, how will the US manage to define the groups so that they do not have to act? If so, what will the political repercussions be when the US finds itself having to act on terrorist groups in an allied country or in a conflict where there are terrorists on both sides of the conflict?
I obviously have a lot of questions and very few answers. I’d like to see someone wiser and more knowledgeable than me take a go at it.
I do not claim to be wiser or more knowledgeable than you, tevya, or anyone else for that matter, but I can point you in the direction of this thread originated in The Pit, although why it is in such a strange location I do not know.
I suggest that you read this thread and see what questions remain outstanding after so doing.
I myself have an unanswered question on that thread, which relates to the apparent tardiness in US governmental circles in not searching out and freezing those bank accounts which are thought to be the source of funds for Sinn Fein, or the IRA, or what you will.
I, of course, am not a moderator, and furthermore I do not aspire to the higher echelons of this message board which are frequented by such illuminati, so I cannot advise you where to post any continuation of your queries, which is either here or there, or maybe both or neither.
In fact, I hope one of these august people comes along pretty quickly and puts me out of my misery before I disappear up the metaphorical orifice of my orotund prose.
Thank you Nostradamus for that link. I’ll be sure to check it out. I am thrilled that such a revered and august personage such as yourself has deigned to attempt to answer my humble inquiries. 
Certainly I agree with that definition. Does this match it for you?
Rereading, I see you have interpreted “FLQ. Radical Separatists and Language Purists” as “The FLQ, as well as Radical Separatists and Language Purists.” I should have used parenthesis to make myself clearer.
Your observation that the FLQ has been defunct for decades is noted. Of course the FLQ “doesn’t exist.” It was outlawed by an act of parliament. Now, we have the “Quebec Defence League.”
I bristle a bit at being accused of defining “people I don’t like” as terrorists. I should like to point out that I think that Montreal is possibly the only city in Canada that has anything like high culture.
I’d also like to point out that in Vancouver, many of the shops that I frequent don’t use any English at all-- )100% Chinese) and I can honestly say it’s never occurred to me to gripe about it-- much less try to kill anyone over it…
Here is a four-year-old article about recent activities of Raymond Villeneuve, an FLQ founder who has publicly urged suicidal youth to present themselves for the good of the cause. This man is unquestionably a terrorist. Not a “successful” terrorist, thank god, but not for want of trying.