Was Hitler a Terrorist?

Another powerful discussion in class today, with two important questions raised (by YOU!):
1. What exactly IS a terrorist?
2. Could we call Hitler a terrorist?

The first question was a great one, and even today, the world's leaders (United Nations, included) cannot really settle on a definition. If you go to this link on Wikipedia, you will see many different definitions of terrorism. Which do you think is the most accurate?

Gihad Ali, a Palestinian who had to live through the "War on Terrorism" going on in the Middle East, wrote a poem called "Eye to Eye" when she was a teenager. The poem was later made into a song called "Look into My Eyes" by Outlandish, a group based out of Denmark. (Notice the trend... writing by teens that gets their voice HEARD). Here is her definition of terrorism:

I'm terrorized in my own land
and I'm the terrorist?

You think you know all about terrorism
but you don't know it the way I do.
So let me define the term for you.
And teach you what you thought you knew.

I've known terrorism for quite some time,
fifty-four years and more.
It's the fruitless garden uprooted in my yard.
It's the bulldozer in front of my door.

Terrorism breathes the air I breathe.
It's the checkpoint on my way to school.
It's the curfew that jails me in my own home,
and the penalties of breaking that curfew rule.

Terrorism is the robbery of my land.
And the torture of my mother.
The imprisonment of my innocent father.
The bullet in my baby brother.

So American, don't tell me you know about
the things I feel and see.
I'm terrorized in my own land
and the blame is put on me.
(excerpt from: "Eye to Eye")

We discussed the primary motive of a terrorist: Is it just to "kill people"? From the definition above, and what we know of terrorist attacks, we can conclude that terrorists perform these acts to gain POWER. In the "Why War" post, many of you agreed that the war was primarily for our "human need/desire" for power.
What is the easiest way to gain power? MAKE PEOPLE TERRIFIED. This is how Hiltler and the Nazi party managed to control millions of Jewish (and Non-Jewish) people. Think about all the diary entries in which Anne wrote about her fear of getting discovered.

In current times, news reports are flooded with information about actual or attempted terrorist attacks, one of the most recent being the attempted car bomb in times square (NY Times: Police Find Car Bomb in Times Square). We even have a terrorist threat "meter" to tell us innocent civilians just how "afraid" we should be.


Since 9-11, the threat has remained "high" to "severe" basically the entire time. Why might this be, like Esteban said in class, to the advantage both of the U.S. government and of terrorists? Does it keep us terrified and therefore controlled?

Here is a link to 2 videos that give you information about a documentary made after 9-11 by Micheal Moore, called "Fahrenheit 911". Pay attention in the first video to what is said right in the beginning. The second video is Micheal Moore's "main idea" about terrorism.

1st video: Fahrenheit 911 Trailer

2nd video: Fahrenheit 911 Conclusion

Based on these videos, what we discussed in class, and the idea that in order to gain power over many people, you must make them afraid, who do you think is a terrorist?
Was Hitler a terrorist? Why/Why not?
Is Osama Bin Laden a terrorist?
OR...
Is the U.S. government just as guilty of terrorism as Hitler and Bin Laden?