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The following is a partial transcript of Ed Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, being interviewed on Fox News Channel’s “Dayside” this afternoon:

JERRICK: But Mr. Ambassador, do you believe Hezbollah is a terrorist organization?

PECK: Well the terrorist organization is in the eye of the beholder—

JERRICK: Well, I’m asking you.

[audience reacts]

PECK: Okay, you have to understand now we parachuted people into Europe in WWII. You’re too young to remember that—

JERRICK: —Thank you Mr. Ambassador, but—

PECK:Their job was to kill Germans. But no offense, I wish I had shared that with you. But their job was to kill Germans, now were they terrorists or heros?

JERRICK: Well let’s go back to Hezbollah; do you think it’s a terrorist organization?

PECK: No, I think it has objectives to which we object very strongly.

Peck’s entire premise here is both wrong and ridiculous. Terrorism isn’t in the eye of beholder - it has a definition and can be identified when it takes place. For example:

Terrorist:
adj : characteristic of someone who employs terrorism (especially as a political weapon); “terrorist activity”; “terrorist state” n : a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities

Terrorism
n : the calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimindation or coercion or instilling fear

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