Google the word “terrorism” and you will receive more than 140,000,000 results. Sure is a popular word.

People use it, in one form or another, all the time. “A terrorist attack in Iraq today;” “FBI arrests 4 terrorists;” “THE WAR ON TERROR.”

However, it’s very difficult for most Americans to define who a terrorist is, to pinpoint exactly what terrorism constitutes, or to know exactly who we’re fighting in the “war on terror.”

The term “terrorism” is defined by The American Heritage College Dictionary as: “the unlawful use of force or violence to intimidate or coerce societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.”

This definition is rather ambiguous. It could be argued under this definition the U.S. invasion of Iraq was a form of terrorism. The United States invaded Iraq without United Nations approval, raising serious questions to the compliance of the United States to Chapters 6 and 7 of the U.N. charter. The United States then used this force to coerce governments for political reasons. Certainly sounds like terrorism to me.

However, say what you will about the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, but calling it terrorism, as most Americans understand the word today, is a bit of a stretch. One I’m certainly not willing to make.

In fact, under this definition, most military actions throughout history could probably be defined as terrorism.

Perhaps the United States government has found a better way to define modern terrorism. The U.S. government defines terrorism as: “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant* targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.” Notice the asterisk.

The U.S. government also notes the asterisk means: “For purposes of this definition, the term ‘noncombatant’ is interpreted to include, in addition to civilians, military personnel who at the time of the incident are unarmed or not on duty.”

If this is confusing, don’t worry. It’s a muddy definition at best. However, its purpose is clear. Under this definition the United States can not be deemed a terrorist group under any circumstance. Conversely, nearly anyone who chooses to attack a U.S. soldier is a terrorist.

Imagine this: An un-named country invades another nation. A soldier from the invading nation raids a home in the middle of the night using force in an attempt to find information on the whereabouts of a political leader. The soldier finds nothing. The next day, the owner of the home, furious about the invasion of his home, shoots bullets into military sleeping quarters.

Under the American Heritage definition, the soldier is the terrorist. Under the U.S. government definition the home owner is a terrorist. It’s hard to say who’s right. Maybe you think the soldier is justified; maybe you think the home owner is justified. Either way the “terrorist” is a matter of opinion.

That’s the point of all this. In the 24-hour news channel world we live in, we thrive on key words: “Axis of Evil,” “Shock and Awe” or “Terrorism.” Terrorism is a word we have to be careful with though.

Terrorism is not an umbrella word we can put all the enemies of the United States under. The United States has had many enemies who don’t fit this category-North Korea for example. The U.S. government has also created and supported many terrorist groups, and at the time those groups did serve purposes that advanced the U.N. foreign policy agenda.

The most well known of these groups is probably Afghanistan’s Mujahideen. The Mujahideen were funded to fight the Soviets by both the Carter and Reagan administrations. At the time, Reagan referred to the group as “freedom fighters.” Osama Bin Laden was a prominent member of the Mujahideen. Today, President Bush counts Osama Bin Laden’s group as one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world.

The term terrorism is almost impossible to define, but there is a fine line between a freedom fighter and a terrorist. Americans should be more aware of the difference and a little more discretionary when throwing the word around.

It’s also important to remember, as we wait for our victory over “terrorism”, it’s awfully hard to kill a military tactic, which is possibly the safest definition for the word.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.