Talk:United States and state terrorism/Archive 28

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Atomic bombings

Please note that there is extensive discussion about this issue above (here). Devoting a large chunk of space on atomic bombings, a fringe theory, is undue. The correct place to include a statement that some people consider the bombings an act of state terrorism is in the article Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki. Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information and only acts that are generally accepted to be state terrorism on the part of the United States should be included in this article. Reading this article, one would conclude that the general consensus in the academic world is that the bombings were state terrorism on the part of the United States and, heinous though the bombings were in my eyes, that is patently not the case. If it is, i suggest that a case be first made on this page. Thanks. --RegentsPark (talk) 16:14, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

I participated in that conversation that you linked to, as you can see if you read it. And if you had read it before linking to it, you'd note that nobody gave any reasons (other than original research) why well-sourced content cannot be included in the article. This is by no means a "fringe" theory -- please see WP:Fringe to understand what is meant by fringe theory here. Unless you can provide some rationale for removing information cited by reliable sources, then please stop removing the content. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 18:00, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a gathering of random "well sourced" content. WP:V is only one content policy; there are others too, like WP:NPOV, WP:UNDUE, and WP:COATRACK In response to the persistent, incorrigible violations of those policies, I have commenced a deletion discussion. Jehochman ^Talk 23:18, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps before wasting everyone's time, you should have looked at the last 8 or so deletion discussions, where all of your claims have been responded to (several dozen times each) ... but let's go ahead and add another "Keep" vote to our growing list ... -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 23:25, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

This section should explain why some scholars have called it state terrorism, present opposing views and then state the level of acceptance for the two views. Instead it gives too much information about the actual events and provides different explanations for the events, many of which do not discuss state terrorism at all. The Four Deuces (talk) 23:42, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't think it gives too much information in very many places. People need a context to understand the claims that the authors cited are making. I think that we should provide some brief background and then link people to the full article for more detail. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 04:24, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

• I have suggested merging this information in the article we already have about whether the bomb should have been dropped. Move the content there, and just link to it, and as Four Dueces suggests, use this article for presenting the authoritative views (if any can be found). Jehochman ^Talk 02:58, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

This article is not about whether the bomb should or should not have been dropped. It is about what reliable sources have to say about whether the dropping of the bomb constituted an act of state terrorism. That's why it's included in the article United States and state terrorism, like all of the other claims about certain events being acts of state terrorism. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 04:24, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Please name the notable authorities, such as historians, who suggest that dropping the bomb was state terrorism. Who exactly says this? In my opinion, this is a fringe view that does not deserve any coverage whatsoever. Jehochman ^Talk 16:21, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

As I've said to you several times, please read the article you are attempting to delete. If you'll take a look at the section you are talking about right now (Which is called "Atomic bombings of Japan (1945)"), you will see several academics quoted, and a variety of sources you can read (just click on the little superscript numbers, which will take you down to the list of references). What is your basis for saying that this is a "fringe" theory? Have you read WP:Fringe either, before citing it here? All I see is several prominent academics making a claim, and then you providing no evidence to the contrary, and calling it a "fringe" theory. Could you perhaps provide some sources explicitly claiming that it was not an act of state terrorism?-- Jrtayloriv (talk) 17:35, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

It is not a fringe theory, but a minority view. Therefore the article should explain the views as well as why they are not generally accepted. There is no need to provide context, it should be implicit in the arguments given for why the bombing was terrorism. Also, we should not rebut the minority view by presenting alternative explanations of the bombings but should use sources that directly address the issue. The Four Deuces (talk) 18:04, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Four Deuces, please provide support for your assertion that it is "a minority view" among historians. In fact, I would welcome other points of view so we can have an Atomic Bombings section with a discussion of why some notables think it was and why other notables think it wasn't state terrorism. But just because you may personally feel shocked by such a conclusion doesn't render it "a minority view."--NYCJosh (talk) 22:38, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

I am open to keeping the article if it can be put on a path towards better quality. The inability to make improvements over many years is indicative of a possible problem with the topic rather than the content (e.g. the topic is not suitable for an article). However, I am willing for editors to convince me to change my mind. The Four Deuces seems to be suggesting a potentially productive direction. Jehochman ^Talk 00:49, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

Whether the other editors convince you to change your mind is irrelevant to whether the article gets kept or not. The consensus (for the 9th time) is, again, that the article will be kept. Nobody is "unable" to make improvements -- the article is coming along better than the majority of Wikipedia articles, which generally don't have nearly as much content or reliable sources backing them up. If you have improvements to suggest, please make them. One thing that is certainly preventing people from making more improvements is the fact that so much time is being wasted on deletion discussions and complaints from people who say that the article is "biased" or "low-quality", but don't provide any reliable sources to back up their claims and don't do any work (other than arguing on the talk pages) to improve the article themselves. If you have a reliable source that discusses state terrorism and the United States, by all means, please include what they have to say in the article. Everyone here would appreciate it. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 23:11, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

The Four Deuces -- I am fine with any opinion from a reliable source, providing they are discussing things in the context of state terrorism and the United States (i.e. provided that they remain on topic). If people want things that are not on topic, other than information providing historical context for the subject matter, they look in another article. For example, discussing peoples opinions about whether or not the atomic bombings constitute a terrorist act is fine here, whatever their opinion is. Throwing in everybody's opinion, regardless of whether they are talking about state terrorism or not, would not be OK -- that should be discussed in the main article on the bombings. This reasoning goes for any other of the events discussed in this article as well. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 23:11, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

The AfD has failed and I think we should work to make this article neutral. I have been looking for sources and there are few and all of them conclude that some covert actions by the US and by their allies (many of whom had received training in the US) met the definition of terrorism. However they point out that these actions were justified (by the US) as less expensive, and likely to cost less human suffering than conventional warfare. Also it reduced the risk of the US being drawn into war with the Soviet Union. Whether this was a policy or decisions were made on an ad hoc basis is unknown and the degree of US involvement cannot always be determined. The suggestion that the bombing of Japan is terrorism is dismissed because it was more typical of an air force operation than a terrorist bombing, and any accusation against the US is for alleged war crimes, rather than terrorism. I will set up a section for sources below, and would appreciate if others could help build a list. The Four Deuces (talk) 00:33, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Restricting my comments solely to the atomic bombings, the reason why the sources are few is because it is a fringe view that these bombings can be classified as 'state terrorism'. Our goal as an encyclopedia should not be one of attempting to change perceptions but rather to present beliefs and knowledge that are generally acceptable and that have some credibility with historians and other scholars. Unfortunately, the section on atomic bombings is doing the former rather than the latter. --RegentsPark (talk) 03:15, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

One doesn't have to look beyond the first paragraph of the section to see the synthesis and political agenda at work. Because concentrated civilian populated areas were targeted, critics hold that it represents the single greatest act of state terrorism in the 20th century even though it was done during wartime. Others defend the bombings as shortening the war, arguing that the loss of life could have been greater if the war had continued, even though the dead were civilian. This paragraph presents a false dichotomy: that if a historian does not accept that 'shortening of war' hypothesis, then he or she automatically falls into the camp that believes that these bombings were 'state terrorism'. This leaves out the vast excluded middle who subscribe to neither the 'shortening of war' hypothesis nor the 'state terrorism' theory. --RegentsPark (talk) 03:24, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

RegentsPark, so feel free to add a RS presenting this "vast excluded middle" (arguing that it was not terrorism but also that it didn't shorten the war). If it's vast you should have no trouble finding it. Just to reiterate, merely because you believe a view that should be presented is currently not presented in the article doesn't mean that existing views should be deleted.--NYCJosh (talk) 00:17, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

NYCJosh, the way I see it, writing an encyclopedia is a process in which mainstream views are presented to the reader. It is not a battle where competing points of view try to out reliable source the other side. Now I don't know where you stand in your beliefs. Either you truly believe that in the academic world there are only two mutually exclusive mainstream views: one in which the bombings were justified as a means to end the war quickly and another in which the bombings were an act of state terrorism; or alternatively, you believe that the bombings should be classified as state terrorism and prefer to leave it to others to provide sources and counter that POV. If you hold the latter view, then, while that is beneficial to the 'state terrorism' viewpoint, it is not beneficial to the encyclopedic mission of this project. If the former, then obviously, the system that has educated you is vastly different from the one that educated me. My education has been fairly conventional but from excellent institutions that I trust have not hidden mainstream views from me, and state terrorism and the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki have never, not once, been mentioned in the same breath. Now, I do recognize that one's personal experience and education is no substitute for reliable sources but it is also quite clear to me that the length and extent to which this matter is taken up in the article is way beyond its due in what is accepted wisdom. Real life has limited my time on wikipedia, so I cannot take up your challenge to provide sources. So, beyond stating that it is sad that you feel sources are necessary for something fairly obvious (if nothing else, the extract above contains a common fallacious argument), I will simply state my views and let matters take whatever course they will from here. --RegentsPark (talk) 03:36, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

RegentsP, my own views don't matter much, thanks for taking an interest. If you would like to chat about such matters over tea, send me a private message. But since you asked, the answers are, no I had not thought that there are necessarily only two such mutually exclusive possibilities, and no. My understanding is that most historians of WWII today understand the official justification stated by the US gov't at the time, that the bombings will shorten the war by convincing JP to surrender w/o US invasion of the JP main islands, to have been untrue spin. This is because surrender talks btwn the US and JP governments were well underway by July 1945 and the US understood correctly that JP was just days away from agreeing to surrender. It was for this reason that the bombings had to be expedited, so the US could drop the bombs before JP surrendered. Why? According to leading historians, to signal to the Soviets that the US has working bombs and is ready and willing to use them, and to demonstrate the awesome destructive power of the bomb to the Soviets. This meets the definition of state terrorism: violence targeted at civilians for a political purpose (definitions of terrorism vary, but this is the basic reason that the atomic bombings have been called terrorism by some who have called them that).--NYCJosh (talk) 03:48, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

I took an entire course at Yale on the bomb, and another on American public policy since 1946. Never once in any of the literature I read (and there was plenty) was it suggested that America's use of the atomic bomb was an act of state terrorism. It is certainly within the realm of mainstream academia to argue that the bomb shortened the war, or that using the bomb was a mistake because we (America) lost moral stature. The consensus view was that we were ignorant. We did not know the horrible consequences such as radiation poisoning. Jehochman ^Talk 12:22, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

(out) Here is a link to an article in Global anti-terrorism law and policy. It says: "Even when definitions of terrorism allow for state terrorism, state actions in this area tend to be seen through the prism of war or national self-defence, not terror, such as the allied carpet-bombing of civilians in the Second World War, the United States' use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the American use of more than seven million tons of bombs on Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos". I suggest we mention what Chomsky's opinion was then mention what the mainstream view is. There is no need to describe these events in the article. Btw, the argument that the bomb shortened the war is irrelevant to whether or not it was state terrorism, because terrorism always has an objective beyond inflicting destruction. TFD 15:53, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

I agree with this. Discussions on the 'why' of the bombings are appropriate in the article on the bombings, not here. I also feel that if Chomsky has unequivocally stated that, in his view, the bombings were an act of state terrorism, then it is appropriate to include that in this article because his views are too important to be ignored. My suggestion is a single sentence along the lines of "some commentators, notably Noam Chomsky, believe that, because the bombings targeted civilian areas, they were an act of state terrorism by the United States". Assuming that that is the reason given by Chomsky. This can be included somewhere in the section "general allegations against the US". Anything more than this is way undue. --RegentsPark (talk) 16:25, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

The "Global anti-terrorism law and policy" quote is interesting, and I would have no objection against including it, or some version of it, in the article. But you also have to read and include the paragraphs before and after it, which describe that the definition of terrorism is often subjected to a "power bias" so that terrorism perpetrated by states is given a pass. It also states that "experts" describing acts committed by their own states are less likely to label them as terrorism than "experts" who live outside the country describing the same events. I am loosely paraphrasing. The second point about inside vs outside observers is an important one given the over-identification with one's own state and its "official" justifications for its actions inculcated from an early age and sometimes reflected in knee-jerk views (no, that's not an accusation against anyone in particular).--NYCJosh (talk) 03:25, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

(out) Well over a year has gone by and nothing has changed. If someone wishes the atomic bombing of Japan, the fire-bombing of Dresden (or we don't lobby for that being "terrorism" because Nazis deserved it? or that it's not included shows how selective these accusations are) those, and all the rest, should be in their own laundry list, a separate article on "Acts of war alleged to be state terrorism." The article as it stands is a bucket for anything anyone with some sort of following has alleged to be an act of state terrorism by the United States. Frankly, broader articles on appropriate categories of acts (regardless of country) considered to be state terrorism would be far more useful and appropriate.  PЄTЄRS VЄСRUМВА ►talk  04:09, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

I have to second Jehochman's comments regarding ignorance, all that was reliably known at the time was the destructive power. The rest of the horrors of atomic war only came to be known after. 20:20 pontificating based on all we know today is nothing more than that. We used to paint radium on clocks to make them glow in the dark, and painters were pointing their brushes with their mouths until 1930 as I recall.  PЄTЄRS VЄСRUМВА ►talk  04:17, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

Harbour and terrorism

Nowhere does Harbour say that the bombings were a form of terrorism. What is said is that because of their desire to use civilian terror, a just war theorist would have to conclude that the real targets were civilian. The leap to 'terrorism' from that is WP:OR. In fact, the author goes on to absolve Truman of the desire to cause civilian deaths and states that "we (the just war theorists) cannot really know" (material in parens is mine). Later, the author points to the complicated relationship between intention, action, and just war theories. In no way does the author say that the bombings were an act of terrorism. --RegentsPark (talk) 21:38, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

This seems a rather fine distinction to me; but OK by me if you take it out again; I'll replace it with a Jamal Nassar ref - Gbook link here [1], if you object to one that we can take it up here. But I do have problems with the 'who' template being inserted immediately before the section that discusses and refs the scholars who see Hiroshima this way. It's a fully supported topic sentence. Novickas (talk) 21:51, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

While I was against including the section earlier, I now think it is ok. It does need fact checking and rewriting though and, imao, only researchers who explicitly believe that it was a form of state terrorism should be included here. Harbour, for one, is very nuanced and, the chapter actually ends on a note where the benefit of doubt is given to Truman. --RegentsPark (talk) 22:03, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

I'll take a look at the who tags again. --RegentsPark (talk) 21:53, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

OK. The following would be fine: A number of scholars consider the atomic bombings to be a form of state terrorism because one definition of terrorism is "the targeting of civilians to achieve a political goal. based on such a definition.[26][27] --RegentsPark (talk) 21:57, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

I rewrote it and removed the who(s). --RegentsPark (talk) 22:00, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

I think we can agree that this article calls for an extraordinary level of care, altho we probably don't agree on details. Now - there are some sections that aren't supported by ref'd statements along the lines of 'X and Y interpret this as US-sponsored terrorism' and so could be seen as synthetic. Could I ask you, Regents, to flag these somehow, but not delete them; and after flagging them leave them be for a few weeks. I ask for this grace period because most of them seem familiar to me and so I presume that other editors will be able to add references as called for. Sincerely, Novickas (talk) 23:56, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

Secret bombing of Cambodia

How is the secret bombing of Cambodia not discussed in this article? It's one of the most blatant acts of state terrorism I can think of. Also, how is spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam not discussed? From the article: "According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.[1]" Wikipediarules2221 18:22, 8 May 2010 (UTC)

There is nothing wrong with adding either of these into the article as long as you can cite reliable sources have claimed that these were acts of state terrorism. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 17:35, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

I disagree. Most writers do not consider these actions to be state terrorism. (Opponents of US foreign policy are more likely to term them "war crimes".) The article should present the arguments that the US promotes terrorism, rather than relate events that may be seen as examples of terrorism. TFD (talk) 17:41, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

As myself and numerous others have said each time you've said this -- you need to provide sources that say that it is not an act of state terrorism. Your opinion about what "most authors" think is original research, and is therefore irrelevant. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:50, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

Here (again) is a link to an article in Global anti-terrorism law and policy. It says: "Even when definitions of terrorism allow for state terrorism, state actions in this area tend to be seen through the prism of war or national self-defence, not terror, such as the allied carpet-bombing of civilians in the Second World War, the United States' use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the American use of more than seven million tons of bombs on Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos".

As I stated when the "Global Anti-Terrorism..." book was earlier mentioned, the quoted article seems to be a critique of the way the "state terrorism" label is applied: that when the alleged state actor is a pundit's own government then the pundit tends to be more averse to calling a spade a spade then when describing the actions of governments of OTHER countries. That is, basically many quoted experts on such matters tend to be hypocritical in their use of the term terrorism. It should in no way constrain the way we at WP use the term.--NYCJosh (talk) 01:11, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

Does the source say that the term "state terrorism" is normally used about foreign governments? It seems that Western governments are quick to label the actions of other governments as terrorism, but this may not be how academics would describe the same actions. Notice that the Axis powers, who committed war crimes and atrocities againt civilian populations were never called "terrorists". TFD (talk) 02:19, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

"the 1637 massacre of the Pequot"

The United States of America as a nation did not come to be until July 4, 1776. How could this act fit the criteria of "state sponsored terrorism" when the USA as a state did not yet exist? 69.119.207.171 (talk) 05:35, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

The statement is part of a quote of a respected historian whose thesis is that such acts of violence have been part of American history since before the founding of the nation, to the earliest settlers. The incident is not mentioned in isolation, nor is it being used to implicate "Americans" in the Pequot massacre, but rather it is being used to support the specific historian's thesis. This is actually very clear from the context in the article. --Jayron32 05:40, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

Agree with Jayron. TFD (talk) 05:54, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

Pending changes

This article is one of a number selected for the early stage of the trial of the Wikipedia:Pending Changes system on the English language Wikipedia. All the articles listed at Wikipedia:Pending changes/Queue are being considered for level 1 pending changes protection.

The following request appears on that page:

Comments on the suitability of theis page for "Pending changes" would be appreciated.

Please update the Queue page as appropriate.

Note that I am not involved in this project any much more than any other editor, just posting these notes since it is quite a big change, potentially

Regards, Rich Farmbrough, 00:30, 17 June 2010 (UTC).

Rich, People have strong emotional reactions to this subject and continued protection/semi-protection is very much warranted. Every so often someone with minimal previous exposure to some of the cited chapters of US history comes around, calls all of us who have worked on this commie pinkos, or some version thereof, and suggests deleting the whole article.--NYCJosh (talk) 14:05, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

I agree -- this article is a magnet for zealots, who are interested in removing reliably-sourced information because it conflicts with their political viewpoints. I think that it would be reasonable to make sure that seasoned editor look over changes and make sure that people are giving valid reasons for removing/adding content. It would save everyone who is actually working on this page a lot of time dealing with them. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 21:34, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

Michael Manley

No mention of the attempted assassination? Truth And Relative Dissention In Space (talk) 23:08, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

Regarding your question in your edit summary, "someone else answer, why is this not a legit question? it is a fact." Questions, like all statements, have verbs. Also, there is a difference between a "legit question" and a "fact" as you are no doubt aware. I assume that this is really a rhetorical question which may provoke argument but will not further the improvement of the article. Please either raise a real question or delete your comments, which are disruptive. TFD (talk) 07:12, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

This strikes me as a legitimate question. Peter McLaren calls US intervention in Jamaica terrorism. [2] As this book notes, the CIA's role there is still under debate. [3] The assassination attempts on Manley are described as CIA-backed here (published by Rowman & Littlefield)[4] and by William Blum here [5] But as usual we need to attribute. For CIA destablization we have Mclaren, Manley himself, and other authors [6], [7], [8], [9]. All reputable publishers. Give us some time. Novickas (talk) 13:30, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

So this can be added then, as experts consider Jamaica a victim of US-sanctioned terror? Truth And Relative Dissention In Space (talk) 06:26, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

No, the purpose of this article is to explain why various writers have accused the U. S. of state-sponsored terrorism, not to prepare a rap sheet. Only one of the sources provided makes any link between U. S. interference in Jamaica and terrorism, and it is included in a long list. If you want to explain Blum's views in the article, that is fine, but it must be presented in a neutral tone. I doubt that Blum's theories have wide acceptance because he basically ascribes every assassination or attempted of foreign leaders to the CIA. TFD (talk) 06:58, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

TFD -- Your characterization of Blum's writing is blatantly untrue. He does not ascribe every assassination to the CIA, although in his book on CIA interventions abroad, he did focus primarily on those assassinations that were committed or backed by the CIA (imagine that ...). But you'd probably have to read some of his work, and think clearly for a moment, in order to see that. And then, of course, there is the fact that you provided nothing to back you claims -- "The Four Deuces" is neither a notable or reliable source -- so said claims are irrelevant and distracting. Please try to stick to the facts, and leave your opinions out of it. If it hasn't been made clear the last 20 or so times you've injected them into the discussion for this article -- nobody cares about your opinions -- please provide reliable sources to back your claims. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:04, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

I don't see that a consensus was established here wrt the purpose and scope of the article, apart from a requirement that each entry be backed by reliable sources using the word terror in connection with a US action. Unfortunately it could be expanded quite a bit using reliable sources with a few sentences of background for each. TFD, If you have some concrete suggestions for containing it to a manageable WP article size (however that's currently defined), while preserving the work that's been done, please present them. Novickas (talk) 19:44, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

I agree -- it seems that we shouldn't worry too much right now about tightly scoping the article. As long as the works cited are clearly discussing state terrorist acts in relation to the United States, it seems that they should be included here, for the time being. If the article begins to get too long and cluttered, then would be the time to start worrying about hierarchically organizing the article's content in an appropriate manner, and breaking it up into sub-articles which we link to from this one. The key focus right now, however, should be adding informative content, backed by reliable sources which are clearly on topic. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 20:20, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

Please be polite in these conversations. I am not talking about reliable sources but WP policy and guidelines. I suggest you read WP:NPOV and WP:Fringe. Your comment "the works cited are clearly discussing state terrorist acts in relation to the United States" is incorrect. The authors must state that they are considered terrorist acts, which most of them do not. Please see WP:SYN. BTW would you not rather the article explains the views of writers that consider the U. S. to be responsible for terrorism, rather than a list of all the events that various writers have called terrorism? We must not blur the distinction between unbiased presentation and undue promotion of minority views. TFD (talk) 20:59, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

TFD, re your BTW, why must this be an either/or proposition? Why can't the article explain for each act why the author claims it to be terrorism, when this is discussed by the author? But to the extent a choice has to be made, this article is not a review of notable experts and their views but about US govt connection to terrorist acts.--NYCJosh (talk) 03:05, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

So is this a whitewash for one fellow? What is up? Truth And Relative Dissention In Space (talk) 04:09, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

Please be patient...it's all quite difficult and calls for extreme care and use of the best possible sources, which takes time and research. Novickas (talk) 19:52, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

I do not understand your question. TFD (talk) 07:49, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

accusations

Isn't it great that when talking about the U.S., it's always accusations, and sources ALWAYS need to be cited, but when accusing other countries, ie Iran, Korea, Iraq, Pakistan, Cuba, Afganistan, it's never an accusation, it's just a done deal with no sources whatsoever. Nice to know we got such an unbiased media.

Also, it's not just leaders of Venezuela, and Nicragua who are accusing America, there are many members of the American intellectual community, former soldiers, random people from throughout the world, including citizens of American ally countries, ie Canada, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Australia, Japan, etc. The list goes on. The only people who refuse to see what America is doing are the right wing extremists. They are also not accusations, but just acknowledging facts, rather than trying to bury them or brush them aside. Accusations are- China is a threat, Venezuela is a threat, Korea is a threat, Afganistan is a threat, Iran is a threat, Iraq has WMD. Those are accusations. Facts are- CIA goes into countries to cause disruption, America sponsors dictators, America supported Bin Laden, America put Sadam in power, America supported Pinochet, America supported Suharto, America supports Israeli attacks on Palestine, America uses white phosphorous on civilians. — Preceding unsigned comment added by [[User:{{{1}}}|{{{1}}}]] ([[User talk:{{{1}}}|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/{{{1}}}|contribs]])

Just wanted to say...

The article is looking very good, these days. The obstructionists and deletionists who used to run roughshod over all the content, here, appear to have finally been brought to heel. Kudos to all involved, and especially on the more reasonable and academic quality of debate that is currently prevalent on the talk page. Great job, NYCJosh, et al! 114.45.224.186 (talk) 13:07, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. Who is that anonymous contributor?--NYCJosh (talk) 05:18, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

I agree. Good work guys. This is one of the best articles I've read in Wikipedia in a long time. I learned a lot. I found it when I was looking for information about the Atomic Bombings of Japan as an act of State Terrorism from a discussion of that topic in my graduate class today, on the anniversary of that horrible act. Wikipedia did not fail to disappoint in providing me with the relevant discussion of the very important topic from this angle, which is not discussed in our mainstream media (but what do you expect from US media?). Anway, Bravo, Wikipedia! I think I will have to join and help the project, now. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.169.68.203 (talk) 23:47, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Agreed. One of the best article in Wikipedia. Or, at least one of my favorites. Why is it class C? This should be a featured article. Its so well referenced, full of quality academic sources, and does a fine job at illuminating this very important topic of social discourse within political science and international relations. I suspect that the reason its not a featured article yet has more to do with the politics than anything else.72.164.170.56 (talk) 04:15, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

It seems the tags should be removed. Including unexplained Sept neutrality tag. Length wise, some sections probably could get their own articles, or be briefly cut, just to make room for atrocities to come ;-( CarolMooreDC (talk) 13:22, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

TerrorISM

The correct nouns are 'terrorism' or for the person practising it 'terrorist', the adjectives 'terrorist' or 'terroristic'... The article may look a bit more credible if you use the correct nomenclature.

'Terror' is what the victims experience. 92.11.174.68 (talk) 08:44, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

And what the f*!k is this supposed to be addressing?

Your criticisms of the article might look a bit more credible if you bothered to refer to what you're trying to correct.

Beyond that, you just sound like a dips*!t knowitall. 118.160.161.56 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 17:25, 13 November 2010 (UTC).

Contacting editors who participated in previous Articles for Deletion

Please contact me if this article is put up for deletion, preferably via email as I don't edit wikipedia much.

Canvassing rules allow an editor to contact editors who were in a previous deletion discussion about a new deletion discussion as long as as he contacts every person in that particular deletion discussion:

Wikipedia:Canvassing#Votestacking Posting an appropriate notice on users' talk pages in order to inform editors on all "sides" of a debate (e.g., everyone who participated in a previous deletion debate on a given subject) may be appropriate under certain circumstances on a case-by-case basis.

So since there are nine previous articles for deletion, there are ten groups of people any editor can contact about the deletion discussion, as long as he contacts every person in that one deletion discussion with a neutral message. The message on these editor's talk pages must be neutral.

Wikipedia:Canvassing#Appropriate_notification Notices should ideally be polite, neutrally worded, clear in presentation, and brief - the user can always find out more by clicking on the link to the discussion.

Example

So for Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/United States and state terrorism (9th nomination), an editor needs to contact all 11 people who participated, [10]. It is not required to contact User:Shimeru the admin who closed the deletion discussion.[11]

A good neutral message would be:

==United States and state terrorism is up for deletion== United States and state terrorism is currently up for deletion, your comments about this deletion are welcome here: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/United States and state terrorism (10th nomination) ~~~~

Seeing all the editors who participated in previous AFD's

[12] is found by clicking the history tab of the Article for Deletion discussion. Then clicking the link "Revision history statistics".

Rumpsenate2 (talk) 22:07, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

This page should be eliminated

The U.S has not committed terrorism by any reasonable standard. Just because a terrorist group or a terrorist regime like Iran says the U.S does it is not sufficent.Nbaka is a joke (talk) 21:12, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

Okay, let's start another deletion discussion. The tenth, actually. It's fun. Also, there are examples like the Hiroshima and Nagasaki's nuclear bombings that have no relation at all with Iran --83.40.156.35 (talk) 13:37, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

And no relation at all to terrorism. So why did you bring it up? --Dekker451 (talk) 16:21, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

It does not matter whether or not the U.S. has supported state terrorism but whether there are reliable sources documenting that the accusation has been made. The challenge is to write the article in a neutral way. TFD (talk) 14:20, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

Does anyone else here feel that the name "Nbaka" (I.E: "Nabqa") "is a Joke" is inherently POV, non-neutral, and clearly pushing a non-neutral perspective? Also, whatever happened to that attempt to get the bullshit labels removed from the top of this page? Isn't it high time Wikipedia acknowledged the level of scholarship and dedication to the neutral presentation of facts that this article represents?

This page makes it pretty clear that Wikipedia is in no way interested in being an "encyclopedia"; the organization here feels the need to always and shamelessly indulge the most spiteful, contrarian, and reactionary anti-academic sentiments over those which are rooted in fact and a dedication to truth. 118.160.161.56 (talk)

"Dedication to truth"...Typical propagandist language. Why do you hate America so much? And no, responding to the question with more lies would not really be an answer. --Dekker451 (talk) 16:21, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

Dekker apparently believes that truth is equivalent to propaganda. Propaganda is defined as lies and prevarications in the service of political ends. Dekker, therefore, is a propagandist. 118.168.236.5 (talk) 14:06, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

First: Unless the 192 nations in the world have a page to state sponsored terrorism to put one fro a leading progressive nation shows a POV bias.

Second defending Nbaka is a joke tag, The Nbaka is a joke to most of the people who are not racist against Jews.Basil rock (talk) 14:00, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

The nabqa is a historical act of ethnic cleansing. Ethnic cleansing is only a joke to criminals and other conscienceless scum. 118.168.236.5 (talk) 14:06, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

It's reasonable to say that wikipedia shouldn't have a page on USA state terrorism and USA state terrorism only, that would imply that there's something inherently wrong and immoral about the country itself and would definitely display a bias...but 192 countries? Should San Marino need to have a page on its' relationship to state terrorism before one can be legitimately created and elaborated upon for the United States? Or Bulgaria, Switzerland, Nepal or dozens upon dozens of other countries against whom no even remotely serious accusations could be made? Many events in US history can be interpreted as something not entirely unrelated to state terrorism...and claiming that everyone who comes to that conclusion is racist, anti-democratic and anti-progressive...that's not a claim Wikipedia should take seriously, I think. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.2.168.138 (talk) 00:59, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Although here is no reason why other countries that have engaged in state-backed terrorism should not have their own articles, the majority of states, including San Marino, have not engaged in this form of terrorism. TFD (talk) 03:23, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

But we should take seriously claims that something "can be interpreted as something not entirely unrelated"? How can that meet the verifiability test? It's way too vague and subjective. --Dekker451 (talk) 13:46, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

If there is literature about a subject then we can have any article about it. The challenge is to write it in a neutral way, explaining how the topic is normally seen and not write it from the point of view of its proponents. TFD (talk) 15:56, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

I wholeheartedly agree that this article should be deleted. It is the quintessence of bias. It categorically fails NPOV, it is riddled with Synthesis half the sources fail reliable source guidelines. V7-sport (talk) 01:47, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

=============

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/155082.html

"Iran's interior minister has accused the intelligence agencies of Israel, the United States, and Britain of involvement in the recent terrorist attacks on two Iranian nuclear scientists." 118.168.236.5 (talk) 14:06, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

RE WikiLeaks reference.

This reference was deliberately edited to give it a different meaning other then what was in the memo. What appeared on Wikipedia was ""Contrary to common belief, the American export of terrorism or terrorists is not a recent phenomenon, nor has it been associated only with Islamic radicals or people of Middle Eastern, African or South Asian ethnic origin.". Obviously intended to imply that the CIA acknowledged that the USA was importing terrorism. The original quote began with ""Much attention has been paid recently to the increasing occurrence of American-grown Islamic terrorists conducting attacks against U.S. targets, primarily in the homeland," the memo says. "Less attention has been paid to homegrown terrorism, not exclusively Muslim terrorists, exported overseas to target non-U.S. persons.". The memo was speculating about the consequences of an American resident or citizen Jihadist began mounting terrorist attacks abroad. NOT acknowledging the existence of a CIA program for terrorism as was the impression given by the selective edit.latimes.comV7-sport (talk) 03:26, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

I can't speak to the motives of the person that added it (they might have simply misunderstood it -- see WP:AGF). However, you are absolutely correct that this was a total misrepresentation of the source. I have completely removed that from the article, as it has nothing to do with state terrorism. Thanks for pointing that out. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 22:37, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

POV tag.

The article conflates “acts of war” by the USA and “war crimes” by individuals into state sponsored terrorism. Indeed the article keeps the definition of terrorism deliberately ambiguous stating that there is no agreed upon definition of terrorism, thereby allowing pretty much any allegation against the USA to included. IE , the atomic bombings of Japan were an act of war, committed in a declared war against military targetsV7-sport (talk) 23:21, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

Our personal opinions on whether or not certain actions were "acts of war" or "terrorist acts" is irrelevant. We've got reliable sources that are stating that these actions are state-sponsored terrorism, and our job as Wikipedia editors is to reliably report what reliable sources have to say about it. The article itself is not keeping "the definition of terrorism deliberately ambiguous stating that there is no agreed upon definition of terrorism". There simply is no agreed upon definition of terrorism. All of the definitions that the U.S. government uses, for instance, implicate the US as a terrorist state. So these definitions can't be applied and people try to jump through all kinds of hoops to come up with complex definitions that include all of the United States' enemies, and none of the actions of the US government (e.g. supporting Contra terrorists, blowing up airplanes, bombing Cuban hotels, Shock & Awe, etc.). The result of all of this is thousands of inconsistent definitions of terrorism. So the best we can do is see what reliable sources are saying about state terrorist activities of the United States, and not try to come up with our own definition of terrorism here (that's not our job). - Jrtayloriv (talk) 22:42, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

"We've got reliable sources that are stating that these actions are state-sponsored terrorism," For instance? When José Ramos-Horta blames the USA because indonesian troops shot at people with American made rifles isn't that pushing the POV that the USA was responsible for indonesians actions? Isn't that also synthesis? Since we have sold rifles to other countries are we also responsible for what their armed forces do with them?

If there is no agreed definition of terrorism how can the allegations be substantiated or refuted? If anything can be terrorism doesn't that open this article up to be just a series of allegations against theUSA by various entities that it has opposed? For instance, we have the following:

Fars News Agency, an Iranian state run news agency, alleged that the United States government is involved in the terrorist acts of the Peoples Resistant Movement of Iran (PRMI). The Voice of America, the official broadcasting service of the United States government, interviewed Jundullah leader Abdul Malik Rigi in April 2007, and the Iranian government claims that the fact that he was interviewed was proof of US terrorism.

The article is written in a way whereby anything, including interviewing someone for a radio program could be considered an act of terrorism.V7-sport (talk) 01:52, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Dropping by again, it seems there's a big more heat than light being shed here. Obviously the article should use charges of "state-sponsored terrorism" by the most reliable academic/media/authority sources; but that does not mean they should be ignored if it is a significant act described by less prestigious source of the same ilk, and especially if high quality WP:RS already have supported the view. Re: examples like selling rifles to Indonesia, obviously it's helpful to provide other information about US policies that might have encouraged such use of rifles. The Iranian example is one where more solid sources make the same accusations, like former PRMI members, Seymour Hersh and (possibly?) some cables from Wikileaks? (That's off top of my head.) Sometimes people get lazy and use a convenient source when a little more research would come up with a much more solid source. That's why it's good to challenge them. CarolMooreDC (talk) 01:22, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Hello CarolMooreDC, Isn't it synthesis to, for instance cite US arms sales to Indonesia (when we sell arms to many countries all over the world) as an endorsement of things like "forced sterilization", etc and how would conducting a radio interview be proof of American state sponsored terrorism? V7-sport (talk) 02:43, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

The point is whether or not CarolMooreDC thinks that millions of dollars in arms sales to a terrorist regime, or state-funded PR work for terrorists, constitute state terrorism. The important point is whether or not reliable sources say that these things constitute terrorist activities. I haven't looked into the Iranian issue, but as far as Indonesia, there are several sources that explicitly state that US support of the mass murder in Indonesia constituted state terrorism. As far as the Iranian issue though, if it was just some offhand remark from a government official in Iran, I don't think it is notable enough to warrant inclusion here. But I don't know enough about the situation (i.e. was it more than just "a radio interview" -- i.e. are they doing Free Radio Europe type propaganda work supporting terrorist movements in Iran?) to say anything about it one way or the other. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 03:04, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

I agree with the first three sentences of the above paragraph by Jrtaylor. --NYCJosh (talk) 04:16, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Well no, that wasn't the important point in this particular instance. The question was whether or not juxtaposing that the US government sold arms to a particular regime and that particular regimes history of mistreatment of a particular group to call it "support" constitutes synthesis and original research. The USA sells arms to a lot of people as I am sure you are painfully aware. ..."Free Radio Europe type propaganda work supporting terrorist movements in Iran"... Just for my edification, why did you remove the Igor Primoratz definition of terrorism? V7-sport (talk) 04:21, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Having now read the section in question, first, it would help if the WP:RS were more fully identified in the footnote. Second, further research through a books.google search like United States support Indonesia East Timor could bring out more specific info. Just from memory, it seems that at the time there were complaints reported in various WP:RS that the US was knowingly breaking its own laws against supplying arms to nations that abuse human rights - even as it continues to do worldwide today, when it is convenient. So, again, the solution seems to be more research and fixing up article, less talk page banter, even if latter is easier :-) CarolMooreDC (talk) 11:02, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

", less talk page banter, even if latter is easier :-) " - Not to mention productive and persuasive. V7-sport (talk) 18:12, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Synthesis

The following sections contain no claim, or sources for a claim, that the action is considered state terrorism by a noteworthy academic or expert: Indonesia's anti-Communist purges (1965–66) ; Operation Speedy Express (1968–1969) ; Cuba (1959–present) ; Operation Mongoose ; Allegations of harboring terrorists ; Iran (1979–present) ; Jundullah ; People's Mujahedin of Iran ; Iraq (1992–95) ; Lebanon (1985). This is significant as it means these sections are Synthesis. A list of abhorrent actions is synthetic; please find reliable sources of note making the claim that these particular actions constitute state terrorism. In addition, works generally covering the thesis of state terrorism by the United States ought to be used as the core structuring tool for the article, not the accumulation of incidents. (My interest here is mainly from having watched similar synthesis lists of bad things, and the poor quality of resulting articles.) Fifelfoo (talk) 03:05, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

As far as Cuba, I'm not sure how you can say that the sources cited don't mention state terrorist activity, since almost every paragraph has quotes containing allegations of state terrorism against the United States, or discussing terrorist activities they supported. As far as the other ones, they are all citing reliable sources talking about terrorist groups funded/supported by the United States government, so those clearly belong too. However, as I said above, I think that many of the sections need to be shortened, and a lot of the content moved to other articles and just summarized here. There are simply too many terrorist actions supported/committed by the U.S. to describe them all in detail here -- we need to move some of the detailed description to articles for the individual events. And some of the sections, like those for Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, need more information and could use better sources. I know that there are plenty of sources that discuss U.S. terrorism in Iraq (especially during the Clinton era), but I really don't know enough about Lebanon or Iran to make a recommendation about what to do on those. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 03:26, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

The synthesis emerges as such, "Johnson defines State Terrorism as X, and gives examples of A, B, C", wikipedian introduces original material regarding A, B or C not connected with someone's definition of state terrorism. In relation to Cuba, I missed the sentence, "Piero Gleijeses, Jorge I. Dominguez, and Richard Kearney..." because I used a tight search "state terror" rather than a loose search "terror" to locate sections lacking academic opinions linking topics back to the article. I agree with you about better sourcing, but, the core issue is to make sure the sources actually hold a position that the events constitute state terrorism, or, in the opinion of that commenter, a position which is so fundamentally similar to the state terrorism thesis that it is identical. (Here I ought to point out that I put months into Mass Killings under Communist Regimes / Communist Genocide; so I am very strongly against Synthetic lists on that basis). Fifelfoo (talk) 03:50, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't follow you, Fifelfoo. If notable source X gives events A, B and C as examples of terrorism, then any additional information regarding event A added later than is fair game since event A has been called an instance of terrorism.

We don't need to reach agreement on a definition of terrorism or state terrorism. Nor do we need an academic to label something or someone that. If an RS uses the term regarding an event or organization that is sufficient. The sections you mention in your list each have footnotes that support the use of the term terrorism. How persuasive a source is should be left to be decided by the reader, once a prima facie case of terrorism has been provided by a RS.--NYCJosh (talk) 04:14, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

• No, this is precisely the Synthesis problem in the article. Kevin Bacon claims that New York is a city of note, and so New York goes into the "Cities of Note" article. John Jameson claims that inside New York there are ice cream vendors, and so ice cream vendors goes into the Cities of Note article. Now if John Jameson had claimed that because New York has ice cream vendors, it is a City of Note, then it wouldn't be synth. Fifelfoo (talk) 23:45, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

"We don't need to reach agreement on a definition of terrorism or state terrorism."- So how does one prove or refute it if it could be essentially anything? V7-sport (talk) 04:24, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

We prove it, for example, by citing a source that action A is terrorism. We refute by citing a source that action A is not terrorism, merely, say a snowball fight. In that instance we would have to provide both sources.

Having said that, it would be great to provide some common definitions of terrorism, for example, as the term is used in US law.--NYCJosh (talk) 22:12, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

• No, this is Synthesis again. State Terrorism is a description used in academic material, and a few major polemics which are influential due to who claimed them. We use the definitions claimed by authors. This is why we use reliable sources only: we aren't competent to explore definition of terrorism. Fifelfoo (talk) 23:45, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Terrorism is discussed in academic articles as well as in numerous other reliable sources, like the NY Times. If you don't think WP editors are "competent to explore definition of terrorism," please check the WP articles Terrorism, State Terrorism, Definition of Terrorism, or articles on many much more subtle and vague topics, like articles on Transubstantiation, Metaphysics, Causes of the Great Depression.--NYCJosh (talk) 22:37, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

"internal operations"

I deleted the 2nd half of the 3rd sentence, which read "along with its historic internal operations against Native Americans, Black Americans, Puerto Ricans, and other U.S. citizens of color." Besides being poorly worded, it doesn't cite any sources to support conflating ethnic discrimination with terrorism. The body of the article doesn't say anything about this either. Scaleshombre (talk) 04:46, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Well done. V7-sport (talk) 05:01, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

misleading lede

With a topic as highly charged as this one, should we really be using weasel words like "many" in the lede? It gives the impression, unintentionally or not, of widespread consensus that the US is a terrorist nation. I've reworded the lede to read "Various groups and individuals have accused the United States government of state terrorism. Among those who've made this argument are..."

I also think it's essential to refer to the most prominent advocates of this view from the get-go. Limiting the description to "historians, political theorists, government officials, and others" is vague and misleading, suggesting a mainstream legitimacy for the "US as terrorist" argument that just doesn't exist. The main thrust comes from ideological adversaries (e.g., Castro's house-organ Granma) and career critics of the US (Chomsky, Mayer, Falk, etc.) who take it as axiomatic that the US is the main perpetrator of evil in the world.

We do a disservice to the reader by glossing over this fact. Hence my revision as follows: "Among those who've made this argument are historians, political theorists, government officials, propagandists for nations that have adversarial relationships with the United States, and Marxist ideologues." Scaleshombre (talk) 19:55, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Please refrain from characterizing thinkers such as Falk and others as "marxists." First, you have offered no sources showing that each of these is true. Second it is not true. Third, it is highly contentious and gets the reader off on the wrong foot: thinking about scholar's world views instead of the subject of the article (US, terrorism etc.). It's like having an article about some political topic, say the Iranian nuclear program, and trying to label every source on the subject a "liberal" a "marxist," a "capitalist," etc.--NYCJosh (talk) 22:08, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

You're right. It's not accurate to broadbrush Falk, Chomsky and Mayer as marxists. How about we change it to "Among those who've made this argument are historians, political theorists, government officials, propagandists for nations that have adversarial relationships with the United States, and commentators who have frequently expressed interest in dismantling the United States' socioeconomic system"? Scaleshombre (talk) 22:45, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Scaleshombre didn't call ALL the polemicists cited "Marxists", there are however a few. They don't, however have the weight of an elected government when it comes to determining what is and what isn't terrorism. If they aren't relevant to the discussion any political and economic framework that they have aligned themselves with is irrelevant as well. V7-sport (talk) 23:07, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Scaleshombre is cherrypicking overly specific, loaded, and/or factually inaccurate terms to use, out of the hundreds or more that could be chosen. It's better not to choose, to avoid editorial bias, and just use a general all-inclusive term like others. The bulk of the commentary is from government officials, historians, and political theorists. The term "others" incorporates the dozens of other labels that could have been chosen but weren't, for the remainder of the sources cited. Why don't we choose "capitalists" for instance, since some of the sources cited are capitalists? And it's obvious of course, why "propagandists" is inappropriate. Go and try to call White House press officers "propagandists", and note how quickly it gets reverted and why (I'll give you a hint -- WP:NPOV will probably be cited). -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 01:52, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Terrorism defined

I have added the definition of "terrorism" as it has been codified into US law. I'll Repeat the relevant section here:

§ 2656f. Annual country reports on terrorism;

• (1) the term “international terrorism” means terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than 1 country;

• (2) the term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents;

• (3) the term “terrorist group” means any group practicing, or which has significant subgroups which practice, international terrorism;
• (4) the terms “territory” and “territory of the country” mean the land, waters, and airspace of the country; and
• (5) the terms “terrorist sanctuary” and “sanctuary” mean an area in the territory of the country—
• (A) that is used by a terrorist or terrorist organization—
• (i) to carry out terrorist activities, including training, fundraising, financing, and recruitment; or (ii) as a transit point; and
• (B) the government of which expressly consents to, or with knowledge, allows, tolerates, or disregards such use of its territory and is not subject to a determination under—

(i) section 2405(j)(1)(A) of the Appendix to title 50; (ii) section 2371 (a) of this title; or(iii) section 2780 (d) of this title.

Since "There is no international consensus on what terrorism, or state terrorism is" this is the only definition that has the weight of law and the weight to be pertinent here. V7-sport (talk) 22:32, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Absolutely incorrect. We don't need to define terrorism here, first of all. We can leave that to the editors at terrorism, and we will summarize what they say there. Second, it does not logically follow from the statement "There is no international consensus on what terrorism, or state terrorism is" that we should therefore just accept (one of) the United States government's definitions. The United States government is not any more special than academic or other sources, especially when there is a blatant conflict of interest as is the case with the topic of this article. That's like allowing Bill Clinton to define what sex is and using his definition to determine if he had extramarital sex. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 00:05, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

• Except for OR and Synth policy. Fifelfoo (talk) 23:52, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

"Absolutely incorrect. We don't need to define terrorism here, first of all. We can leave that to the editors at terrorism, and we will summarize what they say there." LOL! So it can be whatever we...eeer, you say it is. No, "we" don't need to define what terrorism is, nor should we. For encyclopedic content it has already been done for us as a matter of law by the US government which has been elected by the citizens of the USA, THE COUNTRY THAT THE ARTICLE IS ABOUT. Just letting it be.. "whatever" ...will allow this article to become exactly what it has become. A POV pushing collection of diatribes that conflate acts of war or even war crimes to "terrorism". And no, other Wikipedia pages are not considered reliable sources.

"United States government is not any more special than academic or other sources"... Really, you think that US law is not more significant then a paper by a grad student, lol, not even a thesis paper by the way.... You should try that the next time you get pulled over.V7-sport (talk) 01:13, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

• No, "we" don't need to define what terrorism is, nor should we. -- Correct. We should just wikilink to state terrorism.
• And no, other Wikipedia pages are not considered reliable sources. -- Straw man. I never suggested that this was the case.
• Really, you think that US law is not more significant then a paper by a grad student -- Straw man again. But no, we should not cite U.S. law here. See WP:PRIMARY. We should use secondary sources, many of whom will likely have graduate degrees. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 01:57, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

• Law is a PRIMARY source. You are giving UNDUE weight to a single source, which does not discuss state terrorism. Finally you seem to be attached to truth instead of VERIFIABILITY, and acting in a very POINTy way. Fifelfoo (talk) 01:29, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

This § 2656f appears to exclude ANY state terrorism. So it seems inapplicable to our article, which is directed to a particular form of state terrorism. In a WP article entitled "Bernard Madoff" you would not cite a US law that deals with antitrust violations in the definition section because it is inapplicable. I am not against a short discussion on definitions and links to the State Terrorism, Definitions of Terrorism and Terrorism articles, but we need to include definitions that are relevant.--NYCJosh (talk) 22:50, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Conforming article to the definition of terrorism.

I boldly removed a bit of information from the article because it did not conform to the definition of "terrorism" as outlined by US law.

• "premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents"

If there is something I missed that isn't POV that and conforms to this definition I apologize. I will add that the administrator who oversaw the previous deletion discussion stated "I'd be quite tempted to go with "delete and start over", So herein is an opportunity.... V7-sport (talk) 22:42, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

There is no "the definition" of terrorism. There are an enormous number of definitions, and we don't take the United States government's as the "real" one. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 00:01, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

You already know that the consensus of the community is that the article should not be deleted. That does not mean you should try to get around it by blanking the article. Please stop being disruptive. You don't get to unilaterally choose one of many definitions of terrorism (the most biased one you could possibly pick for that matter), and then declare that you are going to delete everything that you say doesn't conform to that definition. That is the epitome of WP:OR. We go by what reliable sources say here. If reliable sources say that an act is state terrorism, we put it here, with attribution to the source. If other reliable sources disagree, we put their opinions with attribution. Whether the events in questions fall under any arbitrary definition you have selected is completely and utterly irrelevant. Do not remove well-sourced content based on your own personal opinions. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 00:15, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

• "You already know that the consensus of the community is that the article should not be deleted." Not at all, during the last round it was tossed back out to see if it there could be a good faith edit to improve it. This effort is failing for very predictable reasons..
• "You don't get to unilaterally choose one of many definitions of terrorism", I would not have defined it that way, however the elected government of the USA did. You cannot arbitrarily state that someone like Nicholas Turse should be given any, if not FAR more WP:WEIGHT then the law of the country that you are commenting on.
• "We go by what reliable sources say here." Do you? You just stripped a reliable source off the page, and it's not the first time you have done so. Reliable sources have defined terrorism with the weight of law. Other reliable sources have stated that there is no other LAWFUL consensus as to what that word means. Therefore as a matter of LAW and WEIGHT the reliably sourced definition that you just unilaterally removed from the page is the definition of terrorism that should be used. Otherwise this page is by design a WP:Coatrack for whatever WP:POV piece that you personally approve. if you can find an alleged act of terrorism that can legitimately be called terrorism under the law then include it, If not please stop being disruptive.

By the way I intend to move our chat log from your user page to this talk page, since you stopped answering the questions posed to you it only serves as an archive of the effort to do what the last deletion debate tasked editors to do. V7-sport (talk) 00:55, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

• Not at all, during the last round it was tossed back out to see if it there could be a good faith edit to improve it. This effort is failing for very predictable reasons. -- I don't know what you mean by "not at all". There have been 9 deletion discussions, all of which have resulted in Keep or Strong Keep. You are entitled to your opinion that efforts to improve the article are "failing", although I don't agree. What you are not entitled to do is unilaterally delete all of the content in the article and write it from scratch to adhere to your own POV.
• I would not have defined it that way, however the elected government of the USA did. -- Irrelevant. First of all, we prefer secondary sources over primary sources. That is, your original research into U.S. law is not necessary since there are plenty of academic treatises on state terrorism that we can use. What U.S. statutes define as terrorism is not relevant here, unless you've got reliable secondary sources that say something along the lines of "The United States has defined terrorism as XYZ, so therefore the United States did/didn't commit state terrorism by its own definition".
• You cannot arbitrarily state that someone like Nicholas Turse should be given any, if not FAR more WP:WEIGHT then the law of the country that you are commenting on -- I never said that. You are making up straw men now. However, I will say that per WP:PRIMARY, secondary sources should be used over editors' personal interpretations of US statutes (primary documents).
• You just stripped a reliable source off the page, and it's not the first time you have done so. -- Which source? How was it used? And if you're talking about removing reliable sources during my revert of your mass deletions, then that's completely irrelevant.
• Reliable sources have defined terrorism with the weight of law. Other reliable sources have stated that there is no other LAWFUL consensus as to what that word means. Therefore as a matter of LAW and WEIGHT the reliably sourced definition that you just unilaterally removed from the page is the definition of terrorism that should be used. Otherwise this page is by design a WP:Coatrack for whatever WP:POV piece that you personally approve. if you can find an alleged act of terrorism that can legitimately be called terrorism under the law then include it, If not please stop being disruptive. -- You just gave your personal opinion about many things, but none of your opinions about laws or valid definitions of terrorism are based in Wikipedia policy. They are merely your opinions. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 01:39, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't know what you mean by "not at all". The decision not to delete an article is not an endorsement of the articles contents, obviously, and the administrator who over saw the debate the last time around said as much.

You are entitled to your opinion that efforts to improve the article are "failing", although I don't agree. Since you are deleting well sourced and authoritative content and replacing it with the same article that the administrator you say provided you with an endorsement of the article was "tempted to go with "delete and start over"...

"What you are not entitled to do is unilaterally delete all of the content in the article and write it from scratch to adhere to your own POV."Essentially what you have done when you strip the very definition of what you are supposedly discussing out of the article. You have done so to keep this a soapbox, which is why there have been so many attempts to remove it. I am trying to elimnate POV, indeed, all that I have done is remove content that does not conform to the US law on terrorism.

"the elected government of the USA did. -- Irrelevant. First of all, we prefer secondary sources over primary sources." LOL! The idea that you can claim that the lawful definition of terrorism, indeed the ONLY pertinent lawful definition of terrorism is "irrelevant" is hilarious. It is quite obviously relevant, it is the law that we (because you haven't seen fit to live under Chavez) use to define what terrorism is and what it isn't. It's awesome that you are sticking to that though.. "US law on terrorism is irrelevant to a Wikipedia article on US Terrorism". -Jrtayloriv LOL And the link I provided was from a secondary source. You would know that had you bothered to read it instead of simply deleting it. And saying that quoting the law on the subject at hand is original research is simply wrong.

"I never said that. You are making up straw men now.", the excellent thing about the interwebs is it's all there for anyone to see who wishes to do so. You wrote "You don't get to unilaterally choose one of many definitions of terrorism" and "The United States government is not any more special than academic or other sources". So the idea that a grad students ideas on what constitutes terrorism trumps US law not only to define what terrorism is, but for inclusion, because YOU disagree with it is not the way this encyclopedia was set up. The idea that you can keep content that doesn't conform to your POV out indefinitely isn't going to work either. V7-sport (talk) 02:43, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Everything you've said is either a response to a misrepresentation of something I've said (e.g. your incoherent ramblings about "grad students"), or is something that has already been explained to you (e.g. your personal opinion that U.S. law should be used over all other sources, in violation of WP:PRIMARY). You're clearly either not reading the responses written to you, or are deliberately misrepresenting people to try to support your POV. Either way, I'm going to stop wasting my time responding to your soapboxing and straw men. If you discuss changes based in policy, then I will respond to those as they come up. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:55, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

• The potential of this article being a coatrack is very real though, which is why only examples used in high quality reliable secondary sources (or field-of-review academic tertiary aimed at academics) should be used to include examples, and only to the extent that the example is discussed in the secondary. And we ought to discuss the theory far more than the examples. Fifelfoo (talk) 01:45, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

The source I listed was secondary and absolutely reliable. V7-sport (talk) 02:58, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

I agree with the potential for COATRACK, if the article is not done properly. I have started moving some of the detailed descriptions of the events (just East Timor, so far) to their main articles. We should very briefly summarize the events (in a short paragraph or three, focusing primarily on the events which are the basis of the allegations, rather than the entire history of each conflict) and then focus on the allegations of state terrorism regarding those events. I don't agree that the events should be removed altogether, though -- the article would not be understandable if it had no context. However, we don't need to go into a detailed history of the Indonesian genocide in East Timor. That already has its own article. We should briefly summarize what happened there to provide context to the reader (wikilinking to the main article if they want more), and focus on the topic of this article, which is state terrorist acts committed by the United States. You are also right that we should use secondary or tertiary sources, and not use primary sources at all. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:02, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

The events should be removed all together if they do not adhere to the legal definition of terrorism, Obviously. Otherwise the remains a coatrack for pushing POV. If they conform to the legal definition of terrorism then you definitely ought to keep them. V7-sport (talk) 03:03, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

• This sounds like the way forward, though the emphasis on these sections should be in providing a link to the main article on the event (or the accusation of state terrorism if it is encyclopaedic in its own right), and bring out the central accusation, "Noam Chomsky accuses the United States of state terrorism for its involvement in [verb clause] in [noun clause]...". Fifelfoo (talk) 02:47, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

So "Noam Chomsky accuses the United States of state terrorism for its involvement..." isn't promotional but "the term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents;" somehow is... How do you justify that? V7-sport (talk) 03:07, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

I agree that most of the description of the event should be in the article for that event, which we should link to from here. However, the specific aspects of that event which provide the basis for the allegation of state terrorism should be included (very briefly, in summary style) for context. What should not be included is the entire history of the event. One of the major problems with this article is that in addition to the actions that provide the grounds for allegations of state terrorism, editors have also decided to include other "nasty-sounding things" that were done in the same conflict, even though they are not even mentioned in the sources talking about state terrorism. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:59, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

"I agree that most of the description of the event should be in the article for that event", yeah, that' called a POV Fork. V7-sport (talk) 03:16, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

No, that has absolutely nothing to do with WP:POVFORK, and has everything to do with staying on topic. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 03:23, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Or moving the bias elsewhere, or, more probably, doubling it. V7-sport (talk) 03:32, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

What exactly are you responding to? I'm not finding anything about people talking about moving bias elsewhere, or adding more of it. Could you explain where you saw someone say this? -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 03:45, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Why is there a definition section at all?

Can someone explain to me why there is a "definition" section in this article at all? Why should we just not Wikilink to state terrorism and have the definition there? Is there a special definition when talking about the United States, for some reason? If not, I suggest that there is no reason for the duplication. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 01:42, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Awesome how you want to pull that down now that there is an authoritative definition that you disagree with. The "definition" section is there because without it "terrorism" could be anything to anybody and the whole article would pretty much look like it does. And wiki is not considered a reliable source, so linking back to it as a definition isn't on. V7-sport (talk) 02:05, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

• Awesome how you want to pull that down now that there is an authoritative definition that you disagree with. -- Your definition is not "authoritative". It is original research from primary documents.

LOL! The Idea that US law on terrorism is "original research" is laughable. AND ONCE AGAIN, it is from a secondary source, had you bothered to follow the link instead of deleating it you would have seen it was from the Cornell Law School. V7-sport (talk) 02:45, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

• AND ONCE AGAIN, it is from a secondary source -- It doesn't matter where you pulled the primary documents from. They're still primary documents. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 03:09, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

• The "definition" section is there because without it "terrorism" could be anything to anybody -- Terrorism can be anything to anybody, and that will have no bearing on what is put in this article. What will go in this article is what reliable sources call "state terrorism".
• And wiki is not considered a reliable source, so linking back to it as a definition isn't on. -- I've already told you that this is a misrepresentation of what I said (i.e. I never claimed that other Wikipedia articles were reliable sources), so now I'm going to assume that you either are deliberately being dishonest, or are not reading responses to your comments.

You're assuming bad faith is yet another reason why efforts to reform a problimatic article are going nowhere. V7-sport (talk) 02:54, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Is there any policy-based reason why we should have an entire section devoted to defining state terrorism, when there is already an article that does just that. The only reason I would see for doing this is if there was a different definition for the United States, but there is not, as far as I can tell. Why can't we just link to the article for state terrorism in the lead, and focus on the topic of this article? What is the purpose of the definition section? -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:20, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

• You are seeking to pull the definition because you don't like the definition... Is that any way to purge the POV? Obviously not. V7-sport (talk) 02:54, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Why is there a definition section at all?

There is no "the definition" of terrorism. There are an enormous number of definitions, and we don't take the United States government's as the "real" one. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 00:01, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

A good source / reference for differing definitions of terrorism, state terrorism, etc is the debate over the Draft Comprehensive Convention Against Terrorism. This provides an international, legal context as opposed to "V7-sport (talk) 22:32, 27 December 2010 (UTC)" reliance on a single state definition, strongly disputed by other states.Pacificbiblio (talk) 22:17, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Also, links to the "Definitions of Terrorism" and "State Terrorism" articles, which include definitions, are important.--NYCJosh (talk) 22:54, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Since nobody has provided a reason for this section to exist, I've removed it. This is what the article state terrorism is for. There is not a different definition for the United States. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:05, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

If you scan up you will see reason for the section to exist. The word needs to be defined so the reader will be able to discern what is legitimately "terrorism" from things like "war crimes" or "acts of war" or "foerign policy" . V7-sport (talk) 02:11, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

No, that's not a reason for the section to exist. That's a reason for the article state terrorism, which we've linked to, to exist. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:15, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

This isn't an article on "state terrorism" in general. this is an article about terrorism allegedly committed by the USA. One that should include a reference to how the USA defines "terrorism". I note that you didn't have any issue with the section before the definition that you disagree with was proposed for inclusion. V7-sport (talk) 02:31, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm aware that this is not an article on state terrorism in general, which is why we don't need to have an entire section dedicated to defining state terrorism here. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:43, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Very well then, revert it back to the previous "definitions" section that I pit up with the definition of terrorism under US law and the notation that there is no agreement under international law as to what "terrorism" means. That will provide a solid foundation for an article that isn't as problematic as this one is. V7-sport (talk) 02:52, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Since you're not interested in doing anything other than repeating your personal opinions about the section, I've filed an RFC where we can get feedback from uninvolved editors. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 03:03, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

history section

The history section seems to be in no apparent order, not by country, not by date, not by any other obvious idea. Should there be an order? What? Hmains (talk) 06:12, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

The problem with "by country" is that some of the conflicts/actions were international, such as the School of the Americas, or the wars in Indochina. By date is troublesome for similar reasons, as many of the time periods for the different conflicts overlap, and many of the conflicts took place over a long period of time; breaking them up by year would make the article completely unreadable as we'd be jumping back and forth between one conflict and another. Dealing with them by "topic/conflict" seems best, because then we can write a coherent description of the event summarizing the articles that have already been written for each topic. Breaking them into sections by conflict/topic also makes it easier to discuss the allegations coherently, because they generally are focused on the conflicts as a whole, rather than what happened in a particular year, etc. However, since they aren't chronological, and some of them, such as the School of the Americas (albeit after a PR-motivated name change) and Iraq continue to this day, maybe "History" isn't the best label. I agree with you that the current structure of the sections is problematic, and could use a lot of improvement. Can you think of a better name for the section, or a better way to structure it altogether? Thanks for your feedback. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 06:47, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

protection

In response to a request at WP:RFPP to stop the current edit war, I have fully protected the article so consensus can be reached or dispute resolution can be used. If consensus is reached before protection expires, any admin can unprotect the article. Work it out, people. :-) KrakatoaKatie 03:50, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

This (thus far) is the wording that the current fracas is about: 'In United States Law terrorism is defined as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.” This has been sourced with secondary and primary sources (despite the reason given for it's previous deletion.) This article has been nominated for deletion several times, the last time thee administrator tossed it back in the hope that a good faith effort could be made to address the POV and Fringe content. There does seem to be an WP:ACTIVIST effort to keep it as is. V7-sport (talk) 04:06, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, there is a strong scent of anti-American activism at work on this article. There has been for years, and it would be wonderful if we could finally resolve the matter. Jehochman ^Talk 21:57, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Too bad protection is needed. Wikipedia should be able to define the term State terrorism and how it is applied TO nation states by various outside parties and BY nation states to itself and to other nation states. Obviously considering the US is known to spend more on its military than all other nations combined, it's going to be a big target for people charging state terrorism. And I'm sure on every charge there are a number of WP:RS perspectives that can be balanced. Organizing to remove all alleged anti-American POV pushing should be avoided, just as organizing to remove all legitimate defenses should be avoided. CarolMooreDC (talk) 23:14, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Jehochman: What do you consider "anti-American activism"? Do you have reliable sources which discuss alternative views, which you feel aren't being treated fairly? (And as I have explained to V7-sport -- please present sources that are actually on topic, rather than OR/SYNTH arguments). -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:00, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I consider anti-American activism to be editors who only add negative POV to a topic, rather than a balanced presentation. This article is a negative content fork. The content here should be distributed to the relevant events. If there is reliable information that the attack on Hiroshima was state terrorism, that view should receive due weight in the article Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the appropriate sub article. Gathering all the negative history of the US and dumping it here is a severe violation of WP:NPOV. Instead we should be presenting the good with the bad, fairly balanced. We don't have an article called United States and the advancement of human rights, do we? I could gather bits and pieces of lots of historical incidents and explain how wonderful the US is because we have done all these things to promote human rights. That would be just as wrong as gathering all the anti-US content here. I am not disputing that the content is referenced. I am disputing the construction of an article which as a POV fork violates WP:NPOV. Jehochman ^Talk 02:07, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

• You said that only "negative POV" is being presented, rather than a "balanced presentation". Do you have contrary views from reliable sources that you feel aren't being presented fairly here? What are your sources, and what views are they presenting that you feel would add balance here?
• Gathering all the negative history of the US and dumping it here is a severe violation of WP:NPOV. -- I agree that "gathering all of the negative history of the US and dumping it here" would be a violation of WP:NPOV, but that's not what's happening. We're gathering the views of all reliable sources discussing whether or not the United States has committed state terrorist acts. And so far, I've seen no evidence that the discussion is not balanced. "Evidence" would mean reliable sources with contrary views which are not being presented here fairly, or at all. I would like to remedy this if someone can provide sources.
• We don't have an article called United States and the advancement of human rights, do we? -- I think we should, and we could discuss the United States government's views that its foreign aid, Peace Corps activities, wars, and torture camps advance human rights, and the views of critics that disagree that this is true. This is clearly a notable topic as well, per WP:NOTABLE. It would of course, be wrong to present only critical views, when we know that promotional views exist, and it would be wrong to present only promotional views when we know that critical views exist.
• I am disputing the construction of an article which as a POV fork violates WP:NPOV. -- A POV fork would be Ways that the United States advances human rights or How the United States fails to advance human rights. However an article which presents both points of view is not a POV fork. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:13, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

• And as I have explained to V7-sport -- please present sources that are actually on topic, rather than OR/SYNTH arguments You haven't "explained" you have rationalized and litigated censoring legitimate opposing viewpoints while defending the OR/SYNTH that exists here.
• 'We're gathering the views of all reliable sources discussing whether or not the United States has committed state terrorist acts. You are protecting a coatrack article that serves to promote fringe theories and includes authors who have praised the columbine school shooters as "revolutionaries". This is a part of a effort to slap the the words "United States" onto every perceived atrocity and give it it's owb Wiki page, like Human experimentation in the United States and Eugenics in the United States etc, etc. It is itself synthesis. In this case it is also conflating "acts of war" or "war crimes" or even "foreign policy" and "international commerce" to the level of "terrorism".
• I think we should, and we could discuss the United States government's views that its foreign aid, Peace Corps activities, wars, and torture camps advance human rights.... Ever occur to you that you could live elsewhere? Just curious.V7-sport (talk) 04:05, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I just responded to the coatrack/POV fork non-argument, and have asked for reliable sources discussing alternative viewpoints to demonstrate violation of WP:NPOV, which you again failed to provide, so I'll point you to my responses above. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 05:31, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

V7, please don't invite other users to "live elsewhere". That's not germane. Jehochman ^Talk 12:09, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Per the below, why are people complaining there is no positive information (or not enough defenses against negative information) instead of just finding and adding it? If State terrorism is a legitimate topic, so is state terrorism by country. There need to be more articles on more countries that practice state terrorism and a category Category:State terrorism with a "by country" subcategory. CarolMooreDC (talk) 14:58, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

WP:NPOV is not achieved as a dialectic of critics battling against apologists. What we want is for editors to investigate all sides of the issue, and themselves to create a balanced, neutral portrait. We shouldn't have editor A adding criticism, and editor B adding excuses/apologies/support. Each editor needs to strive to create balanced content. As an example, read German submarine U-853, an article that is about 75% my content. Am I pro-US or pro-German? Hopefully you can't tell what my personal feelings are. Jehochman ^Talk 16:55, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

NPOV

Where in the lede is the point of view that the US has generally acted with legitimately in the enumerated instances? I am quite sure this point of view exists and has sufficient prevalence to be included. I am very concerned that this article is just a WP:COATRACK for attacking the United States as "evil". Jehochman ^Talk 12:12, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Isn't it great we have all these books/scholars/etc. google and other search engines to search through to find such WP:RS info when we want to add it to an article? CarolMooreDC (talk) 14:53, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Why then are certain editors only adding criticism, rather than searching for both sides of the story? Jehochman ^Talk 16:51, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I am sympathetic to your POV here Jehochman, but unless you have some sources or information you would like to introduce, this isn't constructive. Arkon (talk) 17:23, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't have the time to go through this monster line by line and research each statement. The problem is that a number of prolific editors over the years have added masses of unbalanced content. The article reads very poorly. What I want to do is fix the process, not dash my head against the wall while going nowhere. Jehochman ^Talk 17:26, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

So you're complaining about a perceived POV, saying that the article is unbalanced, but are refusing to provide sources which can demonstrate that it is unbalanced, and are saying that you "don't have time to go through it and research each statement". What exactly do you want then? If you haven't gone through and researched each statement, then how do you know it's unbalanced? Again, if you are going to keep saying that the article is unbalanced, I'd like to see some sources that demonstrate that this is the case, so that we can actually work on integrating them into the article, rather than going back and forth about the article being biased, and going nowhere. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 18:29, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I will start an RFC and we'll get opinions on whether this article is balanced, or not. Jehochman ^Talk 18:31, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

You're welcome to do that, but you and anyone else who thinks it isn't neutral aren't going to fare very well until you provide some sources that can demonstrate contrasting views that aren't being presented here fairly. But maybe if you bring in more people, they will actually be willing to provide sources instead of just complaining that they don't like it. It's impossible to fix the perceived POV of the article if the people that keep complaining about it won't say what they actually want to change, or what they'd like to add (other than saying they think it's "too anti-American"). -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 18:35, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Adding more stuff won't fix the problems I've listed below. The article needs major removals and reorganization. That can't happen while it is protected, and it is clear that there is no consensus yet for such changes. I do not want to start yet another edit war, so I think we need to have a community discussion about the future of this article. Jehochman ^Talk 18:39, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I didn't say that "adding more stuff will fix the problems". I asked you for a specific set of problems and suggestions, so that we can actually work on fixing things. You say that the article is not neutral -- provide an example (with sources) so that we can fix it. You say that synthesis is occuring -- provide an example so that we can fix it. You say that reorganization needs to happen -- provide a suggestion, so that we can discuss it. Vague accusations of "anti-Americanism" and "original research" won't get us anywhere. You have to actually provide suggestions on how you'd like to change the article. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:02, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

RE, Jehochman, This is why I want to keep the definitions section. (and why the self appointed overseer of this page wants to get rid of it) The USA doesn't consider it's actions to be terrorism and as a matter of law they are not terrorism. By most credible definitions the litany of diatribes that have been harvested in this article (from legitimately lousy actions to an attempt to call a radio interview proof of state terrorism) are not terrorism but war, war crimes, foreign policy, commerce or broadcasting. The reason there aren't more citations refuting the notion that this is "state terrorism" is because the concept of "state terrorism" seeks to draw a moral equivalency between an act of war and filling up a school gym full of children and setting off bombs. As someone who has seen lengths that the USA goes through to protect non-combattants in war and as someone who witnessed aircraft full of people being deliberately flown into buildings full of people the notion that the actions are equivalent is patently offensive and absurd.V7-sport (talk) 19:07, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

A short summary of the above comment would be "Original research and soapboaxing." -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:17, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for addressing my concerns again in the most dismissive way possible. It never gets old. One wonders when you started to have a problem with soapboxing and Original research on Wikipedia. V7-sport (talk) 19:43, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I've addressed your concerns by requesting that you provide reliable sources that discuss the topic at hand, rather than your personal opinions. I'm going to keep doing that. I don't feel like arguing with you any more. Maybe start with Google Books or EBSCO ... -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 20:00, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Newsflash, sanctimoniously invalidating what was written as "A short summary of the above comment would be "Original research and soapboaxing."" is not addressing the concerns therein.V7-sport (talk) 20:19, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Nor did I say it was. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 20:32, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Stonewalling is a form of disruptive editing. This isn't about sources. It's about WP:NPOV. The problem with this article is that several editors appear to have cherry picked only negative sourced material about the United States, instead of creating a proper, balanced and neutral article. An RFC is ongoing below. Let's see what the uninvolved have to say. Jehochman ^Talk 20:15, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

This is very much about sources. If you don't understand that, you might need to go take another look at WP:NPOV. Or if, like the topic of this article, you don't have time to read up on it, maybe just read the first sentence, which is explicitly about sources. We don't state that an article is in violation of WP:NPOV because editors personally feel that there is an "anti-American bias". We state that articles are not neutral when they don't neutrally represent "fairly, proportionately, and as far as possible without bias, all significant views that have been published by reliable sources." That means you have to provide reliable sources to substantiate claims of bias. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 20:32, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I know what your position is, and I don't agree with it at all. Instead of repeating yourself, please let some other editors comment so we can move things forward. Jehochman ^Talk 20:35, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

You don't agree that Wikipedia's neutrality policy is centered around the use of reliable sources? -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 20:43, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Now you're being disruptive. Don't engage in talk page games, such as blatantly mis-representing my position. My language is perfectly clear on it's own. Jehochman ^Talk 20:49, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

How did I misrepresent your position? You said that this article's problems with neutrality were "not about sources". I pointed out that problems with neutrality were always about sources. You said you didn't agree. What am I missing? -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 20:56, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

As an example, Noam Chomsky is a professor of linguistics, not history, and he's a radical political activist, arguably a fringe view. Why the general allegations section features his opinion is a mystery to me. A more reliable source for general opinions about US foreign policy in the 20th century would be John Morton Blum or Gaddis Smith. The content cited to William Odom is not bad, but I'd have to check whether it is an accurate representation of what Odom said, or not. Jehochman ^Talk 20:26, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm really shocked at your consistent misuse and misunderstanding of Wikipedia policy. Please read what WP:FRINGE actually means, and then come back and explain how published works by Noam Chomsky, one of the most notable foreign policy scholars alive today (in addition to being one of the most notable linguists) is a "fringe" source in an article on foreign policy (especially when no alternative views have been presented). Actually quote some part of the policy you are citing, please. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 20:38, 31 December 2010 (UTC

Please read what WP:FRINGE actually means .... "We use the term fringe theory in a very broad sense to describe ideas that depart significantly from the prevailing or mainstream view in its particular field." Chomsky is a "political activist", he advocates a set of opinions that are outside the mainstream view.V7-sport (talk) 20:57, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

So provide sources to demonstrate that the mainstream doesn't agree. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 21:14, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Chomsky is a radical, totally outside of mainstream political thought, and he's not an expert on history. He's a linguist and a political activist. Quoting his views is fine when writing about radical or fringe politics, but he's no more a reliable source on the history of US public policy than Malcolm X or Rush Limbaugh. Jehochman ^Talk 21:00, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

That's your opinion, and mine is that his dozens of published works (all meticulously fact-checked) and honorary degrees in foreign policy qualify him as an expert. However, our opinions on Chomsky aren't relevant. His published works are clearly reliable sources, according to WP:RS. If you feel that undue weight is being given to his (or other scholars that you feel are too "radical") views, then this is a WP:NPOV problem, and you need to provide sources that demonstrate this. Comparing him to Malcolm X (who was not a scholar of history and foreign policy), or to Rush Limbaugh (who is not a scholar, and consistently publishes blatant falsehoods) is not an apt analogy. A better example would be Lawrence Summers, who is hated by many who don't agree with his political positions, but is nevertheless a highly notable scholar whose published works are reliable sources. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 21:14, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Couldn't agree more, and this article is being set up to exclude US Law but include fringe polemicists like Nick Turse, who praised the columbine shooters as "revolutionaries". V7-sport (talk) 21:04, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Fringe and polemical are not the same. It could be argued that Mr Chomskey is a polemacist, but his views are widely read and reagarded.Slatersteven (talk) 21:12, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I understand your point, and I am not being snarky here but People Magazine is widely read and regarded but that doesn't mean it is in the mainstream of political thought regarding whether or not acts of war should be re-defined as "state terrorism". V7-sport (talk) 21:22, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Not an apt analogy. People Magazine is not a widely read publication on foreign policy and history. Chomsky's works are. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 21:24, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Not an apt analogy. Limbaugh was actually closer, both are sought out by people on the fringes who are seeking to validate their prejudices. V7-sport (talk) 21:37, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

V7-Sport: You keep bringing up Nick Turse and a quote about Columbine, but I can't find what is cited to Turse in the article. Can you point that out to us? -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 21:23, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

#40 "A My Lai a Month, Nick Turse" A citation used to call an "act of war" or arguably a "war crime" which occurred during Vietnam "state terrorism". When you use the word "us" instead of "me" and "we" instead of "I" is that to give the perception that there is more weight to your request? V7-sport (talk) 21:37, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks -- I tried to search the article for "Turse", and it didn't pop up because someone didn't format the reference properly (It's a bare URL). As far as the source used, it's The Nation, which is an RS. And now that I'm looking at it, I see that you were just being misleading again, and implying that Turse's personal views were what was being included in the article, when it's actually quoting a military officer involved in the operation in question. Your continued dishonesty aside, I think this section needs some heavy rewriting, and wouldn't necessarily have a problem with moving that bit into the article on Operation Speedy Express. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 21:49, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I have had it with you calling me "dishonest" and a "liar" here. What I wrote was true, Turse praised the Columbine shooters and verified through that link. Chances are excellent that you wouldn't call me a liar to my face. This is completely congruent with your previous behavior in other editing debates. Being a wiki-punk is essence of pathetic. V7-sport (talk) 22:04, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

We have now stayed into PA terratory, maybe an admin needs to have a look (at both of you). Is the sourced material Teurse's own views or not?Slatersteven (talk) 22:09, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

It's not a personal attack to say that someone has lied when they have clearly done so. And no, the sourced material is a quote from a military adviser involved in the operation. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 22:13, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I would like V to confirm or deny this as he has been accused of mis-representing a source.Slatersteven (talk) 22:15, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

And I'll note too, that I reserve the words "lies", "liar", and "dishonesty" for only the most egregious cases. I was not merely referring to his misrepresentation here, but also to many others that took place in the conversations above. See the section "Re V7-sport" in the "Definitions section" RFC for several more examples of dishonesty and misrepresentation. And I would welcome an uninvolved admin, or perhaps a WQA or RFC/U to examine my behavior, and tell me if it is unjustified or inappropriate. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 22:18, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Let's all just chill out and try to focus on the article rather than the editors. If we can find common ground -- for instance, cutting out the unnecessary cruft -- we can move things forward. I'd like to get the article unlocked so that we could actually edit it. Jehochman ^Talk 22:28, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

• :Is the sourced material Teurse's own views or not? The citation starts with "Commanding officers encouraged the use of massive, indiscriminate firepower to wrack up high body counts" which isn't in quotations. The rest is a quote that uses the phrase "non selective terrorism'". (Not "State terrorism") What I was responding to was And now that I'm looking at it, I see that you were just being misleading again, and implying that Turse's personal views were what was being included in the article, when it's actually quoting a military officer involved in the operation in question. Your continued dishonesty aside... the entire citation was not just the quote and what I was implying, and what I have written before is "You cannot arbitrarily state that someone like Nicholas Turse should be given any, if not FAR more WP:WEIGHT then the law of the country that you are commenting on". You have included him and excluded the other. This was in no way a lie, to characterize it as such, and to repeatedly call another editor a "liar" is a personal attack. V7-sport (talk) 23:18, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Turse's personal views are presented nowhere in this article. There is a statement of historical fact (i.e. that U.S. military commanders encouraged the use of indiscriminate firepower in free fire zones to rack up high body counts) and there is a quote from a military adviser involved in Speedy Express (which I think should be moved into Operation Speedy Express). There is nothing there that are the views of Nick Turse -- i.e. no statements of his personal opinions etc. Insinuating that Nick Turse's views are being included in the article is dishonest, and when coupled with the numerous outright lies you've told above, I feel comfortable labeling you as a liar. I don't feel that this is a personal attack -- it's simply a fact that you have repeatedly made statements which are demonstrably false. However, as Jehochman suggested, I'd like to continue working on the article rather than dealing with your personal issues. I'll respond to any suggestions you make below for article improvements (hopefully specific changes, based on reliable sources). Happy new year. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 04:53, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

• There is a statement of historical fact (i.e. that U.S. military commanders encouraged the use of indiscriminate firepower in free fire zones to rack up high body counts)" Historical fact? According to whom? I certainty dispute that. It is cited to Turse which means you owe me an apology.
• "Iand[sic] when coupled with the numerous outright lies you've told above," Another outright personal attack. I have not lied anywhere. You have run to etiquette boards because of FORMATTING on the talk page board, yet you have REPEATEDLY and BASELESSLY called me a liar here. Again, a charge that you wouldn't say to my face.
• " repeatedly made statements which are demonstrably false" Where, specifically. The statement II made is demonstrably true, Content cited to Nick Turse is in this article. His story from Salon.com is there, it exists, it is still on the page and the entirety of it is not just a quote. You owe me an apology. It would probably be best for you to remove yourself from editing this article, you are obviously too attached to the content to make a subjective decision. Both your tone and personal insults have been highly objectionable and un-constructive throughout, not only on this page but on others where you have made personal insults agains other editors, it has made this task impossible to proceed with. V7-sport (talk) 22:13, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

This will be the last time that I'm going to deal with your personal issues here. It's nonproductive, and I'm busy actually working on the article with people below:

• Historical fact? According to whom? -- Historical fact according to mainstream history[13][14][15][16][17]. I doubt you'll be able to find a single credible source from an academic publisher that claims that there were no U.S. commanders in Vietnam that acted in ways that ended up killing civilians, based on pressures for high body counts from their superiors.(seriously, try it: [18]) Many of the highest ranking U.S. officers and officials even admit this.
• It is cited to Turse which means you owe me an apology. This is not Turse's view, and is actually cited in the article for Operation Speedy Express to someone else. I assumed that per WP:SUMMARY, that it wasn't even cited at all (because it's cited in the main article), and that only the quote that followed (which is not in the article, and thus required a citation to Turse's article) was cited to Turse. Regardless, you've been repeatedly insinuating that Turse (Who OMG praised the Columbine Shooters as REVOLUTIONARIES!!!) is being given more weight than your off-topic primary source, in order to try to paint the picture that "insane radicals" are dominating the article. But in reality, there is a quote cited to Turse, and an undisputable historical fact cited to someone else in the article Operation Speedy Express. There is not a single opinion or contested fact from Turse in this entire article. And furthermore, I didn't just call you a liar for Turse. For that alone, I probably would have just called you deceptive, or misleading. I called you a liar, because as I said, it was coupled with several lies (see next).
• Another outright personal attack. I have not lied anywhere ... " repeatedly made statements which are demonstrably false" Where, specifically. -- You have lied several times in the section I cited, alone. For instance, you said the following about me (1) "you are essentially arguing for this definition to be excluded on the grounds of how it may be used rather then on it's own merits for encyclopedic inclusion", (2) you and yours have not allowed one comma to be changed, (3) from the onset you left little doubt that you thought I was "wasting your time" for having an issue with this article.. These are all lies, as I have demonstrated there. You have also repeatedly attributed views to me, such as that: (1) any disagreement or call for civility is "whining", (2) that I view other peoples editing attempts as "personal attacks", (3) that I thought that Including the Governments definition of terrorism in an article on government terrorism is "synth", amongst others, nowhere did I claim to hold these views -- you just made them up as straw men.
• Both your tone and personal insults have been highly objectionable and un-constructive throughout -- It's very hard to take allegations of personal attacks from you seriously, given the number of actual personal attacks that you've made (documented above).

Anyhow, as I've said, I don't feel like discussing your personal issues any longer, and would like to get back to the productive work that I've been involved with other users below, who are more interested in making specific suggestions and providing sources. Later. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 23:01, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

• This will be the last time that I'm going to deal with your personal issues here. You calling me a liar isn't a personal issue, it is a personal insult.
• Historical fact? According to whom? -- Historical fact according to mainstream history'' That section wasn't cited to anyone named "mainstream history", it was cited to Nick Turse. And no, it is HIGHLY debatable as to whether "military commanders encouraged the use of indiscriminate firepower in free fire zones to rack up high body counts". That you would label it as "historical fact" with only the set of references that backs your prejudices is what has infused this article with POV.
• "This is not Turse's view, and is actually cited in the article for Operation Speedy Express to someone else." The next citation inline goes back to the Turse article and it was establishing the quote. Again, you owe me an apology.
• Regardless, you've been repeatedly insinuating that Turse (Who OMG praised the Columbine Shooters as REVOLUTIONARIES!!!) is being given more weight than your off-topic primary source, You have worked to exclude content, including getting rid of a Definitions section that had been up for years, and working to exclude US law on the subject. Indeed, because -every- edit I have made here has been reverted or blocked if Turse gets a period that is more content. Which was the point of all this and is what you have called me a liar for stating.
• in order to try to paint the picture that "insane radicals" are dominating the article." You just put Insane radicles in quotes as if to attribute it to me. Where did I write "Insane radicals". Is that a lie? See how that works? The whole point of this was that this article has a POV problem, therefore an opinion is "dominating" (your word) the article.
• But in reality, there is a quote cited to Turse, THANK YOU for stipulating that. THAT MEANS YOU OWE ME AN APOLOGY.
• "and an undisputable historical fact cited to someone else in the article " What are you referring to there?
• There is not a single opinion or contested fact from Turse in this entire article. The statement that "that U.S. military commanders encouraged the use of indiscriminate firepower in free fire zones to rack up high body counts" is disputable. It isn't "fact". It hasn't been disputed/contested yet in this article because the effort to purge the POV hasn't gotten past the title.
• You have lied several times in the section I cited, alone Great how you are doubling down on this. We are beyond an apology at this point.
• you are essentially arguing for this definition to be excluded on the grounds of how it may be used rather then on it's own merits for encyclopedic inclusion" In the context of the argument you were making I see that as the truth. Should you be above explaining yourself? Evidentially you think so. This is the entire arrogant tone you have used from the onset. One that other editors have admonished you about.
• you and yours have not allowed one comma to be changed, In the context that is clear, you have blocked ALL attempts I have made (and others) to edit here. I have not been to effect this page in any meaningful way other then to have the tags restored. Indeed YOU have been able to change, add content, but that addressing the POV problem, OBVIOUSLY. Perhaps it should have been stated as "allowed me to change one comma" or "allowed an editor with an opposing view point to change one comma". Calling me a liar because you have been editing at will is just pathetic.
• from the onset you left little doubt that you thought I was "wasting your time" for having an issue with this article' And I wrote "I amend that you told me I would be wasting "my" time instead of wasting yours. I should give you credit there because there has been lots of time expended for no discernible result." So no, not a lie, I acknowledged that it was incorrect. While I believe the message you were sending me was the same, however and you have, admittedly been "Screaming" at other editors for "wasting your time". You did so at the last deletion attempt.
• These are all lies, as I have demonstrated there. It was all true except for wasting "my" time versus "wasting your time" which I had previously acknowledged. Even then the essence of what I wrote was true. So you calling me a liar is a untrue. What does that make your statement?
• You have also repeatedly attributed views to me, such as that: (1) any disagreement or call for civility is "whining", -In reference to you calling complaints from other editors on your talk page "whining".
• that I view other peoples editing attempts as "personal attacks" You personalize this way too much. It's obvious.
• I thought that Including the Governments definition of terrorism in an article on government terrorism is "synth", Once again, are you above explaining yourself and the reasoning behind your edit? Evidently so.
• Calling me a liar is a false, personal attack. You have done so here repeatedly.V7-sport (talk) 00:54, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

As I said, I'm done discussing your personal issues, and would welcome you to join in the productive conversation that everyone else is involved with below. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 01:02, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

See you at the ANI. V7-sport (talk) 01:17, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Arbcom

I think this has got the the stage whre we may need to considerd arbitration.Slatersteven (talk) 18:53, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

On the basis of what? To me it looks like a content dispute. Be patient and let WP:DR run its course. If you spot any disruptive editing, you can report it at WP:ANI, and if you spot any socks (such as User:Giovanni33, take the matter to WP:SPI). ArbCom doesn't like to take cases prematurely. Jehochman ^Talk 18:57, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

On the basis that any semblance of good faith had evaperated amidist a flurry of accusation. That the saem arguments are being usd over and over again with no evidacen that some users ae going to accept anthing less then their demands. That policy is being mis-used. That sources are being cherry picked (and those are just the ones that both sides have said the other is doing).Slatersteven (talk) 19:02, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

It is not an assumption of bad faith to say that the article is biased. The bias of this article should be obvious to any reader knowledgeable in US history. Cherry picking is not a bad faith acccusation either; it is simply a mistaken way to perform research. Jehochman ^Talk 19:04, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I was not aware that I had picked on any one side in my comment.Slatersteven (talk) 19:09, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm not saying you did. For the moment I'm answering for my own behavior. Others can answer for themselves. The article has three maintenance tags: neutrality, excessive length, and synthesis of original research. It is fair to have an RFC and ask editors to help solve these problems. It is fair to suggest breaking up an overly long article. It is fair to suggest that sources have been cherry picked when an article remains tagged for neutrality. Jehochman ^Talk 19:13, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Tags are meaningless unless a valid justification is provided for adding them. But I agree that the RFC process was and is necessary to resolve the issues with this article. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:21, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Let me add that if this dispute gets to the point where arbitration is needed, I will file a request. Past examples of situations where I've done that are available at User:Jehochman/Arbitration. Jehochman ^Talk 19:16, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Jehochman: While you might believe that the "bias is obvious", the burden is on you to provide sources to support your claim. I agree with you on cherry-picking being a bad way to perform research. The way that you demonstrate cherry-picking is to provide a set of sources, other than the ones that have been cherry-picked, that have contrary views. Either way, you need to provide sources. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:18, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I wouldn't say that "any semblance of good faith had evaporated amidst a flurry of accusation". I think that good faith between certain sets of users might have evaporated, but I feel that progress is being made nonetheless. There was wide agreement that the definitions section should be deleted, for instance, and there is a work in progress for the Japan section which is an enormous improvement over the previous version. I agree with you that policy is being misused, and repeatedly cited in place of sources. I don't agree that sources are being cherry-picked though -- I think they simply aren't being presented on one side (with the exception of TFD, who provided a source recently). -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:18, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

There shouldn't be any "sides". Everybody should be working toward neutrality. A great essay is WP:ENEMY. Jehochman ^Talk 19:24, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm aware that there shouldn't be "sides", but the fact is that there are. You've stated that you think there is a group of people oppositional to yourself (and all other reasonable people who "know anything about history"), namely the anti-American activists. I also believe there are two sides -- one side (a small minority, according to the last 9 deletion discussions) which will be satisfied with nothing short of deletion, because they don't like some of the views presented in this article, and another side which wants to improve the article by adding information backed by reliable sources, and removing "cruft". I wish that everyone could accept the consensus that the topic is notable, and that the article should be improved, but that is not the case at this point. I also agree that everyone should be working towards neutrality, and I for one am trying to. To do this though, everyone needs to realize that neutrality is achived by "representing fairly, proportionately, and as far as possible without bias, all significant views that have been published by reliable sources". This means that people need to provide sources (as is happening in the Japan section right now). -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:41, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

• When you are arbitrarily calling others liars, blocking the inclusion of content that you disagree with, successfully preventing them from changing a single comma on the page, yeah, any semblance of good faith had evaporated. V7-sport (talk) 22:20, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

If any of that starts happening, we'll start worrying about it then. Please stop disrupting the talk page, and join in the efforts above to improve the article by providing specific suggestions. Google Books is a great place to start looking for sources. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 00:14, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

This article hasn't even gone to ANI yet -- I don't see any reason that we would go to Arbcom. As Jehochman said, this is a content dispute. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:18, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

The discussion section above about Japan seems very healthy. People are putting forward ideas and suggesting improvements. That process should continue section by section. Jehochman ^Talk 19:22, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

This is somewhere that we agree completely. :) -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:41, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Like I said some serious accusations are flying. So I would sugest that some one launches an ANI or stop.Slatersteven (talk) 22:24, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I am not sure if this is agaisnt the rules (if it is please let me know) one more psersonal attack or otreh off topic comment and I am taking this page and its probloms to ANI.Slatersteven (talk) 23:06, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Honesty, I find it difficult to see how this can continue with the poisonous environment this has degenerated into. V7-sport (talk) 00:58, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Things are going fine right now with everyone else. We're discussing concrete changes to the article, complete with sources, and have made some progress on one section, so far. It would be great if you decided to join in. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 00:59, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Amazing, you have repeatedly, groundlessly called me a liar here. V7-sport (talk) 01:02, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

As I've said several times above, I am no longer willing to spend time talking about your personal issues. I'm going to focus my efforts on improving the article with everyone else. I hope you decide to join in. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 01:05, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Your personal insults are not "personal issues" Indeed, If for instance I were to call you a morally preening brat who has made it something of a career (how well does that pay) of depositing every last bit of fringe information that trashes the country that you hypocritically wont get up and leave onto this encyclopedia... well, "thick skin" and all.... V7-sport (talk) 01:08, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

I have now raised the issue of the PA's at ANI. I susgest you now either slag each other off there or take it to user space.Slatersteven (talk) 13:06, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

War crimes v. terrorism && section layout

(moved from above)

Some writers have extended their definitions of terrorism to include war crimes and crimes against humanity and we may mention that in the article. But we must also mention that it is a minority view, and cannot use it as a hook to provide a detailed explanation of these actions in this article. Nor should we have separate sections for Japan, Indochina, and the Philippines. TFD (talk) 22:42, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

(...) I don't understand what you mean by not needing different sections for Japan, Indochina, etc. The allegations regarding the Vietnam war are completely separate in many cases from those regarding the atomic bombings. Why should they not be separated? -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 00:24, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

(...) My point is that Japan, Indochina and the Philippines all have the same issue - can actions carried out by soldiers be desribed as an act of terrorism. TFD (talk) 00:50, 2 January 2011 (UTC

Yes and no. We can say that X has called then terrorism. But we could not say they are. As I have said (much like the Anti-Americanism page) this should not be about what is American Terroriam but what has been called it.Slatersteven (talk) 12:47, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

RFC: What should be done to improve this article?

This artice is tagged for multiple problems, including disputed neutrality, excessive length, and synthesis of original research. It has been protected for a month due to edit warring. What should be done to improve this article? Should it be stubbed, broken into pieces, or merged into other articles? Jehochman ^Talk 18:39, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

• Fix, by making specific suggestions -- As far as "neutrality", Jehochman and the user who tagged the article have repeatedly been asked for reliable sources or alternative viewpoints that they don't feel are being presented fairly, and have refused to provide them. All they have provided is repeated claims that the article is too "anti-American". Jehochman stated that he didn't have time to research the statements made in the article. When I asked him how he knew the article was biased if he hadn't done any research on the subject matter, or if he could provide sources that he feels should be included, he didn't respond and stated that he was going to file an RFC. I think that any perceived problems with neutrality will only be fixed when editors decide to do some research on the topic, and come up with content that they feel should be included to balance out the presentation. As far as WP:SYNTH, I'd suggest that the editors that feel that this is happening stop simply repeating that WP:SYNTH is being violated, and actually provide concrete examples of how, so that we can fix them. Vague complaints about WP:SYNTH, just like vague complaints about "anti-Americanism", will never lead to any positive change. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 18:54, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

• This seems to be an odd use of RFC. Isn't the explicit place to answer the question posed..umm..here. At this talk page? Arkon (talk) 19:01, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

There's not even really a specific question in this RFC. It's a vague "how can we make this article better" question, and I feel that it was filed in order to avoid answering the request for reliable sources to demonstrate bias in the article. There are many things wrong with this article, and we need to discuss them one-by-one here on the talk page, as you said. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:03, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

It's my opinion that most of the events listed in the article are not regarded as "state terrorism" by mainstream historians and the article should include these opinions; WP:NPOV is policy and is not optional subject to the whims of individual editors. That being said it cannot and should not fall entirely on Jrtayloriv to provide these sources. I fully expect that if I or other editors add well sourced information counter to the current tone of the article that we will not have a problem incorporating them into the article. Voiceofreason01 (talk) 19:35, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

As I've said above to Jehochman and V7-sport, I would welcome anyone who provides sources discussing why they don't believe that the events listed are state terrorism, or don't believe in general that the United States has ever committed state terrorist acts. What I don't think is acceptable is saying that because a source doesn't mention state terrorism, that they are disagreeing with the classification. We need to find sources that are talking about "state terrorism", "terrorist acts committed by the United States government", "state-sponsored terrorism", etc. -- it doesn't matter to me whether they are saying that they think the idea of U.S. state terrorism is totally stupid, or whether they think the U.S. is a raging terrorist state. I'm just asking that we adhere to WP:V and actually use reliable sources that are talking about the topic at hand. In short, I would welcome you providing sources that disagree with any of the sources cited here. I would also welcome any suggested changes in writing style, coverage, layout, etc. -- anything. But I just don't find vague accusations of "anti-American bias" to be useful. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:55, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

• Delete this article, which is a redundant fork and place any relevant content that isn't already duplicated in triplicate back in the appropriate articles that it is referring to. As it is, this is a WP:COATRACK. It serves as a Petri dish for WP:FRINGE opinions to be collected and WP:NPOV to be given WP:UNDUE weight by WP:ACTIVIST editors who have it as a WP:SOAPBOX. Any attempt to "'Fix, by making specific suggestions" has been blocked by the same editor who is now asking for specific suggestions on how to fix it. V7-sport (talk) 20:12, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

The main problem here is that the entire article is very critical of the US. Per WP:NPOV we must present all notable sides of the argument and there are certainly dissenting opinions about whether or not these events are "state terrorism" on the part of the US. We can't only include sources critical of the US, there are sources supporting the US actions during the events listed in this article and according to policy we must include them. Voiceofreason01 (talk) 20:57, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I agree that all relevant view points must be put, so lets see some of these put her for discusion.Slatersteven (talk) 21:00, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Concur with V7-sport. Delete & merge. Some of this is at best flimsy (Cuba) & at worst, completely unrelated (atomic bombing, Sand Creek, the Philippine War), while it attempts to paint every action by every U.S. ally (a gallery of rogues, to be sure) as "U.S. terrorism". So where's the page on Soviet state terrorism? *sigh* I thought the Pokemon pages were bad. :( TREKphiler ^{any time you're ready, Uhura} 21:37, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Revolutionary terror in the Soviet Union discuses state sponserd terrorism origionating with the soviot union.Slatersteven (talk) 22:04, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

The number and quality of quotes and academic coverage on this topic makes this notable enough for an article and while there are problems with the article right now I don't see any inherent WP:NPOV problems with the article that would warrent deletion. Voiceofreason01 (talk) 22:20, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

The point made was not no similar articel existred and that therfore this page should not. Clearly there are otehr similar articles and that the arguement 'the US is peing picked on, its so unfair' is not true.Slatersteven (talk) 22:23, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

• Comment. The majority of the sources appear to be left-wing, revisionist opinions, like Howard Zinn. That's fine, except that the article currently only gives that side. It could be that there aren't more counter-arguments to Zinn and the others' allegations of state terrorism by the U.S., because it could be that most US media and opinionators have decided to ignore the socialist viewpoints on this topic. The article probably needs to state clearly, up-front, that the allegations of the US being a sponsor of state terrorism mainly come, at least in the West, from left-wing writers and organizations. Then, go section by section and see if there are any counter-arguments to what is being asserted. Cla68 (talk) 23:56, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I disagree. We do not try to balance an articel to present both sdies when there is only one side. I have always disagreed with this kind of labaling of sources, and will allways do so.Slatersteven (talk) 14:21, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

• End disruptive editing of article Unfortunately, I don’t have time for carefully researching and editing this article since I have others higher on my list of priorities. But I’m always willing to weigh in when I see process problems in articles of interest, especially if they are similar to ones I’ve had on another article (in this case Libertarianism.
  • It is difficult to make constructive changes per constructive advice when individuals who just want the article gutted or deleted - despite community opinion to the contrary - keep disrupting it with WP:AfDs and WP:RfCs. If this article really has been nominated for deletion 10 times and not deleted, I would say that it's time for some sanctions for Disruptive Editing/Refusal to Get the point for editors who repeatedly suggest deletion on the talk page or AfD it again. This kind of ruthless, unrelenting and disruptive POV pushing has got to be discouraged on Wikipedia.
  • User:Jehochman who started this thread has opined on his talk page (where he advises User:V7-Sport to RfC the article into naught) that the article is “anti-American POV pushing.” So it seems there maybe other motives than merely improving this article for this RfC, does it not??
  • In defense of the article, perhaps making arguments others have made in the past, there is a whole Category:Terrorism and articles about any kind of "terrorism" are bound to be replete with criticism. A State terrorism article exists and a relevant category and more articles about various states that engage in state terrorism should be created. The state terrorism article does need to define the difference between “state terror” and “war crimes” a bit better and earlier on, which would help this article as well, but certainly WP:RS calling a “war crime” state terrorism as well (or even alternatively) should be sufficient for such articles. CarolMooreDC (talk) 16:30, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

"User:Jehochman who started this thread has opined on his talk page (where he advises User:V7-Sport to RfC the article into naught)" That simply isn't true, as verified by looking at the link. I asked for advice and it was given; no where did he advise me to RFC the article into naught. V7-sport (talk) 22:49, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

It's a matter of interpretation of the diff in question, isn't it? I interpret his writing "spin out as much content as possible into other articles" to mean to RfC it to very little content. You of course want to delete it, as you state in bold above in this RfC. If there's little content in the article it makes it easier for you to get it deleted, no? CarolMooreDC (talk) 16:27, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Please stop assuming bad faith and wikilawyering. There is nothing wrong with suggesting that an article is bloated, or that it would be better to move content to other articles, or even to suggest that an article topic is not proper. I believe that if we start by eliminating cruft, and then moving the remaining content to the most logical places, we may find that this article becomes smaller, or even gets merged into some other article. (Or we might find that this turns into a good quality, focused article. I don't know what will happen; that depends on the path of future editing and editors.) I know suspect you disagree with me, so please don't bother repeating your past statement. But please do consider the possibility that editing disagreements might be based on good faith by both sides. Thanks. Jehochman ^Talk 16:36, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Actually, I was just wondering how the Deletion template above could be fixed so that it says "Nominated for Deletion 9 Times" instead of making people unhide it to discover that shocking fact. If you now finally state you don't want to delete the article, I will take your word for it. CarolMooreDC (talk) 16:59, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

If there's little content in the article it makes it easier for you to get it deleted, no? No, that actually doesn't go to follow. A bloated biased article is just as bad as a trimmed biased article. The idea that length means acceptance of the basic premise might explain why the effort to trim it has been met with the reaction it has. V7-sport (talk) 22:23, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

might explain why the effort to trim it has been met with the reaction it has. -- Could you describe what "reaction" you are talking about? I know that I was substantially trimming the article before it was protected, and this seems to be one area where almost everyone agrees work needs to be done. Are you just referring to people's reaction to your disruptively blanking the article? -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 22:45, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

• I think it's quite obvious to most people who are not authoritarian followers and do not draw their information primarily from the US mass media that the US (like many countries, actually, but perhaps more overtly) tends to behave in a way which, in an individual, would have to be described as hypocritical. The common sense observation that certain actions by the US would be classified as terrorism if they were committed by individuals – a fact that creates real difficulties for politicians who want to define terrorism without making their own state's actions fit the definition – must be disturbing for US citizens who love their country uncritically and are unaware of this hypocrisy (or are aware of it but hypocritical enough to deny it anyway). Before this background it does make sense to interpret vague attacks against the article as bad faith attacks, in the way it has happened above.

This talk page is a crass example of the TLDR problem. If there is really something wrong with the article it's not clear from Jehochman's question what the problem is. The mere existence of lots of tags is fully consistent with the article being actually neutral. I think the RfC can only work in connection with a clear and detailed explanation of what the real or conceived problem is that may or may not need fixing. A pointer to a particularly illuminating talk page section may be enough. Hans Adler 02:08, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

• Critics can suggest specific RS Instead of making general allegations about the article based on personal whims and preferences, those who wish to improve the article should feel free to propose text supported by RS per WP rules, as many of us who edit this page have done. The rest of the discussion is a waste of time.--NYCJosh (talk) 22:38, 3 January 2011 (UTC)
• RFC Comment This subject is only fringe inside the United States, internationally these accusations are not rare and are notable. Since the RFC asked for suggestions on how to improve the article, how about moving to "Accusations of state terrorism against the United States" and including in the article sourced responses to these accusations to the extent they've been made in reliable sources? I note that some responses seem to already be there. --Dailycare (talk) 21:26, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

Japan

Lets get the ball rolling shall we and address this section. I agree its over long and I would ask why?. We only need a paragraph ot rwo summerising the accusation and the rebuatals (I assume some one can proved RS stating that the bombing of the two cities was not an act of state terrorism. I would also ask that if tehr aree any specific instances of Synthasis for them to be ppointed out.Slatersteven (talk) 21:03, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

As a specific example in the section on the Atomic Bombing of Japan, the lede to that section mentions twice in 6 sentences that this was the only time nuclear weapons were used on civilians. And more generally, in a section nearly 2000 words long there are only a handful of mentions defending the bombing and only 2 quotes defending(vs 7 against the bombing) totalling only about 300 words and each time they are qualified with arguments why it should be considered terrorism. There's no reason for there to be 3 times as much material in this section against the bombings as for it; we could improve the WP:WEIGHT of the section simply by removing some of the unnessarily long quotes and qualifications against the arguments supporting the bombings. The whole section shouldn't be more than about 500 words and point to Debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the rest of the section is fluff. Voiceofreason01 (talk) 21:35, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I agree that this section needs a lot of work. Most of the arguments in there are SYNTH, in the sense that they aren't even mentioning terrorism one way or the other. These don't belong -- the section should only be discussing the views of reliable sources that say that it was or wasn't state terrorism, but not those that don't mention terrorism at all. (the latter is WP:SYNTH). I also agree with you as well that the section will probably be shorter if on topic and written appropriately. I already worked on significantly reducing the length of the East Timor section, by moving most of the historical content into the appropriate article, briefly summarizing it here, and then focusing most of the content here on the state terrorism discussion. I think that's what we should do with the Japan section as well.-- Jrtayloriv (talk) 21:55, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Great! Instead of arguing, let's all work together to fix the article. Removing cruft is a good first step. Jehochman ^Talk 22:02, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Can we have a propsal for a new passage please?Slatersteven (talk) 22:03, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Reading through the article it looks like a lot of the problems are caused(or at least being exacerbated by) the inclusion of too many quotes, if we can cut down the article a little and remove some of the unneccessary quotations I think that will help a lot in terms of readability and overall quality of the article. As an example State terrorism and propganda it is relevent but it's 400 words long and doesn't really contribute much to the article. Voiceofreason01 (talk) 22:11, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Some of the quotes definitely need to go, such as Kai Erikson's in the atomic bombing section, and Jame's Bovard's in the Nicaragua section. However, the quotes that are directly on topic (i.e. specifically discussing state terrorism) should stay, even if lengthy, and will be better than trying to paraphrase what we think the authors meant. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 22:31, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Susgrested new text, as no one else seems to be initereested in susgesting one.

“Atomic bombings of Japan (1945)

Because concentrated civilian populated areas were targeted, critics hold that it represents the single greatest act of state terrorism in the 20th century even though it was done during wartime.

For scholars and historians, the primary ethics debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,[44] relate to whether the use of nuclear weapons were justified. A number of scholars consider the atomic bombings to be a form of state terrorism, based on a definition of terrorism as the targeting of civilians to achieve a political goal.[45][46] For example Howard Zinn writes: "if 'terrorism' has a useful meaning (and I believe it does, because it marks off an act as intolerable, since it involves the indiscriminate use of violence against human beings for some political purpose), then it applies exactly to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

others dispute this conclusion such as Burleigh Taylor Wilkins who writes in Terrorism and Collective Responsibility that "any definition which allowed the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to count as instances of terrorism would be too broad." He goes on to argue "The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while obviously intended by the American government to alter the policies of the Japanese government, seem for all the terror they involved, more an act of war than of terrorism."”

Thus it seems to me wwe have both sides, and they have equal coverage.Slatersteven (talk) 22:33, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Neutral and concise. Looks good to me, I'd suggest adding a link at the end to Debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Voiceofreason01 (talk) 22:43, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Silly me, that would of course be an excelent idea. I should have thought of it.Slatersteven (talk) 22:45, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Here is my comment from April: Here is a link to an article in Global anti-terrorism law and policy. It says: "Even when definitions of terrorism allow for state terrorism, state actions in this area tend to be seen through the prism of war or national self-defence, not terror, such as the allied carpet-bombing of civilians in the Second World War, the United States' use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the American use of more than seven million tons of bombs on Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos". I suggest we mention what Chomsky's opinion was then mention what the mainstream view is. There is no need to describe these events in the article. Btw, the argument that the bomb shortened the war is irrelevant to whether or not it was state terrorism, because terrorism always has an objective beyond inflicting destruction. TFD (talk) 22:52, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I think your quote from Donahue should definitely be included in the "General allegations" section. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 23:16, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

It's a very good start -- I think that there are a few things I think should be added, and that we should make sure that we keep all of the sources (and just not quote from them at such length). I also want to point out the we don't try to give "equal coverage" to different views, but rather, we try to represent them in proportion to coverage in the sources cited, so given the current sources, I don't think quite as much weight should be given to the "calling it terrorism is too broad" argument as the "it was terrorism" arguments since we've got several sources claiming it was terrorism, and only two (taking TFD's suggested source into account) disagreeing (however, weighting should be revised as we gather more sources on the issue). But mostly, I think this is an excellent framework to start from, and you've removed most of the off-topic/SYNTH stuff. I'll post up a suggested revision in a bit. Good work! -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 22:54, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Here's a suggested revision:

Because concentrated civilian populated areas were targeted, critics hold that it represents the single greatest act of state terrorism in the 20th century even though it was done during wartime.

For scholars and historians, the primary ethics debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,[44] relate to whether the use of nuclear weapons were justified. A number of scholars consider the atomic bombings to be a form of state terrorism, based on a definition of terrorism as the targeting of civilians to achieve a political goal.[45][46] For example Howard Zinn writes: "if 'terrorism' has a useful meaning (and I believe it does, because it marks off an act as intolerable, since it involves the indiscriminate use of violence against human beings for some political purpose), then it applies exactly to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

Others dispute this conclusion. Burleigh Taylor Wilkins writes that "any definition which allowed the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to count as instances of terrorism would be too broad." He goes on to argue "The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while obviously intended by the American government to alter the policies of the Japanese government, seem for all the terror they involved, more an act of war than of terrorism."” Richard Falk, however, writes that while the United States government portrays the bombings as an act of war which was intended to save lives that would have been lost if Japan didn't surrender, the "explicit function of the attacks was to terrorize the population through mass slaughter and to confront its leaders with the prospect of national annihilation", and that "the idea that massive death can be deliberately inflicted on a helpless civilian population as a tactic of war certainly qualifies as state terror of unprecedented magnitude".[53]

Basically, I've significantly shortened the Falk quote, but still included a part of it which is an important counterargument to the "act of war" argument. Otherwise, I went back over your version, and noticed that you actually had covered something that I thought you had left out, so this is really my only suggested change at this point. Otherwise, I think that this would be a good start, with a link to the article Debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in a hatnote. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 23:16, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

This is far too unbalanced. Keep all of the argumet in seperate sections. Do not have a 'right of reply' for one side and not the other. So either move the Falk material (I don't tink its needed anyway we have a clim it ws terrorsm, or have a passage after Zin i which the counter view is put.Slatersteven (talk) 23:25, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I moved the Falk section there, because it is specifically responding to the "act of war" argument, and I didn't want to put the response before the statement. However, I'd be willing to put it after Zinn, if you feel that makes more sense. I know we have something saying that some authors feel that this was an act of terrorism, but this doesn't just say that -- it also states that the common "saving lives" argument is faulty, and why. How about this:

For scholars and historians, the primary ethics debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,[44] relate to whether the use of nuclear weapons were justified. Most scholars tend to view the bombings as an act of war.

However, because concentrated civilian populated areas were targeted to achieve political goals, some hold that it represents an act of state terrorism even though it was done during wartime.[45][46] For example Howard Zinn writes: "if 'terrorism' has a useful meaning (and I believe it does, because it marks off an act as intolerable, since it involves the indiscriminate use of violence against human beings for some political purpose), then it applies exactly to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." Richard Falk writes that while the United States government portrays the bombings as an act of war which was intended to save lives that would have been lost if Japan didn't surrender, the "explicit function of the attacks was to terrorize the population through mass slaughter and to confront its leaders with the prospect of national annihilation", and that "the idea that massive death can be deliberately inflicted on a helpless civilian population as a tactic of war certainly qualifies as state terror of unprecedented magnitude".[53]

Others dispute this conclusion. Burleigh Taylor Wilkins writes that "any definition which allowed the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to count as instances of terrorism would be too broad." He goes on to argue "The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while obviously intended by the American government to alter the policies of the Japanese government, seem for all the terror they involved, more an act of war than of terrorism."”

That way, they are separated as you mentioned, but proper weighting and coverage all of all relevant information/arguments is still included. Jrtayloriv (talk) 23:36, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I think (in order to achive consensus, and becasue of the realtive lack of sources for both sides of the argument) we refrain from a sources war (which maybe why the section is such a mess in the first place. We can keep all the sources, wew use then to source the text wihtout quotes.Slatersteven (talk) 23:00, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

For the atomic bombing of Japan the most accepted historical view is that it was not terrorism but instead an act of war. We need to be careful because(as you said) different views should be given weight by their coverage in available sources but the sources currently being used in this article have mostly been picked because they're criticial of the US and are not necessarily representative of all the available scholarship on the subject. Voiceofreason01 (talk) 23:05, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

WP:WEIGHT relates to the "prominence of each viewpoint", not to the proportion of coverage. Most scholars do not consider the bombings to be terrorism, we have a rs that says so and should say that in the article. Since there is no consensus that it was terrorism, a lengthy description of the events would be POV - an attempt to prove it was terrorism by recounting the horrors. The reader should be informed that some writers consider it terrorism, that most do not and the arguments pro and con. They can then read more about the subject in its own article. TFD (talk) 23:20, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Forgive me which soures says this?Slatersteven (talk) 23:40, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Hiroshima was "Fifth Division and Field Marshal Shunroku Hata's 2nd General Army Headquarters, which commanded the defense of southern Japan" the area that the allies were planning to invade. Nagasaki "had been one of the largest sea ports in southern Japan and was of great wartime importance because of its wide-ranging industrial activity, including the production of ordnance, ships, military equipment, and other war materials." To call this an act of State terrorism rather then an act of war is an inaccuracy that doesn't belong in an encyclopedia. V7-sport (talk) 23:42, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

If RS have called it terrorism then we can say they have.Slatersteven (talk) 23:44, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm repeating I know but since things like this is a fringe assertions, outside of the mainstream there aren't too many historians who bother to declare that "This was not state terrorism". Anything short of that (ie, "of course this wasn't terrorism" ...didn't contain the word "state", so it is original research... or "No, this was an act of war", Didn't exclude "state terrorism, so including it would be original research) is ineligible for inclusion. Takes us back to the whole coatrack thing. V7-sport (talk) 23:57, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

If it s fringe view provide an RS saying its a fringe view.Slatersteven (talk) 14:23, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Labeling it as "fringe" would mean a finding an historian calling these specific allegations "fringe", no? V7-sport (talk) 21:52, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

If you can find an RS that calls it fringe then we can at least agree that its been called a fringe theory. Do you have one? But it does not require a source to call it fringe, if you can demonstrate that it is such a widely held view, and tht the otehr view goes agains tthe vast majorioty of scholeery work..Slatersteven (talk) 22:01, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

That's not necessary. For instance, you will not find many reliable sources writing articles to debunk the flat earth hypothesis. Some fringe ideas are not taken seriously, and thus not written about very much. Reliable sources are required to put material in. To take material out, all you need to do is challenge it as unreliable. The burden is on those wishing to include to demonstrate the verifiability and reliability of the information. Jehochman ^Talk 14:57, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

But you will find some debunking it. Also I would add the we have shown RS (and a few of them) the only response back has prety much been "well I don't accept it". Once one side has demonstratd that RS exist for a view the other side has to demonsrate that its not a valid view. \in thje case (of say the flat earyh) this can be done by showing all the RS that say its round (by inferance if a thing is round it cannot be flat) in this instance however saying something was (say) an act of war does not Terrorim. Its not an imperical fact, and so cannot be disputed with imperical evidacne.Slatersteven (talk) 15:14, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

• That's not necessary. For instance, you will not find many reliable sources writing articles to debunk the flat earth hypothesis. Some fringe ideas are not taken seriously, and thus not written about very much. -- You also won't find many reliable sources debunking ideas that are (a) widely accepted as true, (b) that are difficult to logically refute, (c) mainly talked about by specialists. You can't just make assumptions (or convenient choices) about which of these is true, based on a lack of reliable sources making refutations. I think that various combinations of these three apply to different parts of this article. On the other hand, the flat earth theory is extremely easy to logically refute, has a relatively large body of literature which does so, and is not only not widely regarded as true, but is widely regarded as explicitly false. Given the amount of literature debunking the flat earth theory, and the lack of high-quality academic sources supporting the idea (similar to those we have supporting the idea of U.S. state terrorism), I don't think it is a very good analogy. I don't even think that flat earth theory is publishable (except to refute it) in the academic press, whereas this is clearly not the case for the topic of this article.
• Reliable sources are required to put material in. To take material out, all you need to do is challenge it as unreliable. The burden is on those wishing to include to demonstrate the verifiability and reliability of the information. -- And in most cases, reliable sources have been provided for the allegations of state terrorism (I haven't gone through the entire article, but in the sections I've worked on, and the case of Nicaragua and Cuba, this is certainly the case). However, you've yet to provide sources to demonstrate that the article is biased. The burden falls on editors making claims of bias to provide sources showing that this is the case. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 18:40, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

• That's bizarre. You expect somebody to find a reliable source that says this Wikipedia article is biased? No, friend, sorry. The problem here is that sources have been cherry picked. Anybody familiar with modern history can see that this article does not reflect the mainstream view. The article presents a radical view using lots of citations and content derived from radical sources, such as Noam Chomsky, rather than from the most reliable sources about modern US history, such as John Morton Blum. You are using sourcing as a red herring to dodge questions about neutrality. Moreover, the article is much too long. It is a WP:COATRACK of content that should be scattered to all the relevant history articles and placed in context. Jehochman ^Talk 18:45, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

• That's bizarre. You expect somebody to find a reliable source that says this Wikipedia article is biased? -- No, I never said that. That's just you misrepresenting what I said. I said that you need to provide sources, as in plural, that provide alternative views that you feel are not fairly presented in this article. That's how you demonstrate bias, rather than just repeating that the article is biased over and over again because you say so.
• You are using sourcing as a red herring to dodge questions about neutrality. -- No, I'm focusing on sourcing, because that's what Wikipedia's neutrality policy is all about. Read the first sentence of WP:NPOV, please.
• Moreover, the article is much too long. -- I've already agreed with this several times, and agreed with it before you popped in and started telling me this repeatedly -- I was in the process of fixing it before the article was protected. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:26, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Sources for and against

OK lets have a lost of sources that. We are are going to argue about whoes source is bigger lets have a show me yours session.

And at the end we can see who has the bigest source.Slatersteven (talk) 23:14, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

This is good work but if left here it will soon be buried in the talk page archive and the familiar critics will attack the Atomic section again. Can we save this work on sources pro and con somewhere?--NYCJosh (talk) 22:45, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Support the notion that the Atomic bombing of japan was an act of terrorism

1. http://web.archive.org/web/20071201172331/http://polymer.bu.edu/~amaral/Personal/zinn.html

2. http://www.google.com/books?id=nzQOAR5rqvcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA20#v=onepage&q&f=false

3. War and state terrorism: the United States, Japan, and the Asia-Pacific in the long twentieth century - Mark Selden, Alvin Y. So. [19]

“ Undoubtedly, the most extreme and permanently traumatizing instance of state terrorism, perhaps in the history of warfare, involved the use of atomic bombs against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in military settings in which the explicit function of the attacks was to terrorize the population through mass slaughter and to confront its leaders with the prospect of national annihilation. ”

.. section explaining the rationale given with shortening the war ..

“ But even accepting the rationale for the atomic attacks at face value, which means discounting both the geopolitical motivation and the pressures to show that the immense investment of the Manhattan Project had struck pay dirt, and disregarding the Japanese diplomatic efforts to arrange their surrender prior to the attacks, the idea that massive death can be deliberately inflicted on a helpless civilian population as a tactic of war certainly qualifies as state terror of unprecedented magnitude, particularly as the United States stood on the edge of victory, which might well have been consummated by diplomacy. ”

4. The pathology of man: a study of human evil - Steven J. Bartlett [20]

“ Rauch (2002) has sought to remind readers of a series of events which have long been ignored and which Rauch judges to be acts of terrorism of the kind in view here, perpetrated by a government and endorsed by the majority of its citizens. They concern the firebombing of Japan by the United States during the last war, followed by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ”

5. The Psychology of Terrorism: Clinical aspects and responses By Chris E. Stout [21]

“ Surely if targeting civilians is a defining characteristic, then the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshiman and Nagasaki would qualify as state terrorism. ”

6. The history of terrorism: from antiquity to al Qaeda By Gérard Chaliand, Arnaud Blin [22]

“ A state's terrorism is also manifest in the military doctrine of its armed forces. The doctrine of "strategic bombing", for example, developed in the West in the 1930s, was based entirely on the terror incited by the mass bombing of civilian populations to compel governments to surrender. This doctrine resulted in the bombing of Dresden and the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ”

7. Terrorism and justice: moral argument in a threatened world By Michael P. O'Keefe, C. A. J. Coady [23]

“ Several of the contributors consider the issue of state terrorism (Primoratz most extensively) and there is generally agreement that states can, and do, directly engage in terrorism. Coady instances the terror bombings of World War II, including the Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as acts of terroism, and Primmoratz provides a more extensive list. Terrorists of all sorts frequently resort to the idea that the apparent innocents they attack are not really innocent because they are guilty by association. ”

support the notion that the atomic bombing of Japan was not an act of terrorism

1.* Wilkins, Burleigh Taylor. Terrorism and Collective Responsibility. Routledge. pp. 11

2.*"...actions in this area tend to be seen through the prism of war or national self-defence, not terror". Global anti-terrorism law and policy, published by Cambridge (2005).[24] That is a reliable source stating how these events are generally seen not necessarily a reflection of the authors' own view. We determine the prominence of viewpoints not by conducting our own research but by seeing what scholars say about it. TFD (talk) 23:28, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

(See discussion of this source below)

Discussion of sources

Donahue, 2005

Sorry I dont think this says that the bombings were not acts of terror but are not percived as such by the country that carries it oout. It might however make a usefull tird paragraph.

"It had been susgsted that the USA does not precive the bombing to have been an act of terror but rather an act of self defence."

Or some such.Slatersteven (talk) 23:43, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

TFD -- I have integrated this into my second suggested revision above, in the first paragraph, where I said that most scholars tend to see them as an act of war. Do you think I portrayed Donahue's claim fairly there?

Donohue says that "state support of insurgent groups... are seen by other states and non-state actors as state-sponsored terrorism". She was not referring to acttions undertaken during conventional warfare. TFD (talk) 23:48, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

She talks about the carpet bombing of germany, thats conventional warefare. Indead she says that even when nations allow for state terrorism they are not percvied as such by those states (its i that passage she talks about the atomic bombing, thus it could be argues she is saying they are terrorim ust not precvied as such by the perpitrators). She adds later that

“individuals in society who try to draw attention to theses instances of state terrorism are often seen as radical”.Slatersteven (talk) 23:55, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

@TFD -- I agree. I was originally going to make a similar response to your citation of Donahue, but then retracted it when I realized that she was only talking about the U.S. funding groups like the Contras being commonly viewed as state terrorism, and was not saying the same about things like the deliberate targeting of civilian areas during war time (she states that the mainstream view is that these were acts of war). I integrated this into the first paragraph of my second suggested revision. By the way, I also think this clearly supports the notion that the mainstream view is that U.S. support of the Contras was state terrorism, and should be integrated into the section on Nicaragua. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 00:01, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

We must distinguish between Donahue's opinion and her comments about how these events are seen. She is not btw referring to just the allies. People who believe use of atomic weapons was wrong, call it a war crime, not an act of terrorism. I agree that funding the contras etc. is generally seen as state-sponsored terrorism. TFD (talk) 00:15, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Her opinions are her opinions, about both how these things are seen and what they really are. Thats is why I susgest she can only be used to support the line above about perception. She does not say these are not acts of terror so she cannot be used as a source they are not.Slatersteven (talk) 14:26, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Her statements about how things are seen are a statement of fact about how they are seen, not an opinion. TFD (talk) 18:34, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

They may be a statment of fact that the bombinig of Heroshima is percived by the USA as an act of war not an act of terrorism, but it is not a statment of fact that it was ot an act of terrorism. She stated (as a fact) that thjose acts are state terrorism. You may think its her opinion but that is how you judge the source. If her views are RS they are RS, if they are not they are not.Slatersteven (talk) 18:43, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Read the source again.[25] She does not call the bombing of Hiroshima "state terrorism". Anyway if you do not believe that articles published in the academic press are good enough to inform us which views are consensus, majority, minority or fringe, then what do you suggest? Do you think that your own personal impression would be more reliable? TFD (talk) 19:41, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Slatersteven -- Just for a second opinion -- I concur with TFD. Please read the source more carefully. She's not saying that she doesn't think the atomic bombings were acts of terrorism. She's saying that most people don't. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:44, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

“Even when definitions of terrorism allow for state terrorism state actions in this area tend to be viewed thru the prism of war or national self defence not terror,” Then follows that passage about the bombing So yes she is saying that Hiroshima is in the area of state terrorism. Moreover the paragraph above is talking about how states define terror (as does the following paragraph), not about how academic consensus views it. She is clearly talking about how a state defines its actions. Indeed the entire sections titles B. problems with existing definitions.Slatersteven (talk) 19:59, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I agree that there is some ambiguity, so I would take a look at the source she cited to determine what she meant by the above statement. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 20:06, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Here is another source: "Such official, state-based policies are commonly referred to as "terror" and are thus distinguished from terrorism, which is usually understood as violence emanating from non-state actors." (Moghadam, Assaf. The roots of terrorism. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2006, p. 56) [26] TFD (talk) 21:10, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

This makes no mention that I can see (its page 58 by the way) of Heroshima, or any atomic bombing. In fact it appears to be talking about the Holocasust. So no it does not deny that the bombing was an act of terror.Slatersteven (talk) 21:17, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

TFD-- That is talking about internal repression, such as the Nazi's terror against their own populace, and is in fact distinguishing such internal activities from state-sponsored terrorism. It has nothing to do with the atomic bombings or the United States, nor is it saying anything about general views on state terrorism. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 21:20, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

It says that terrorism "is usually understood as violence emanating from non-state actors" (my emphasis). TFD (talk) 21:31, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

It is also clearly talking about intrnal acts of terror, as far as I am aware Japan is not and has never been part of the USA.Indead the source darws a distinction between such internal acts of terror and State Terrorism targeted against foreign targets.Slatersteven (talk) 21:35, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

It says non-state actors, not non-state actors and state actors outside their own states. Incidentally the Nazis carried out atrocities outside Germany. TFD (talk) 22:01, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

"Such official, state-based policies are commonly referred to as "terror" and are thus distinguished from terrorism, which is usually understood as violence emanating from non-state actors. In contrast to the terror that states have wreaked on their own populations, modern state sponserd terrorism… " So yes it does make a distictionSlatersteven (talk) 22:11, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I agree with TFD. If the US funnels money to the Contras who then engage in terrorism, that would be state-sponsored terrorism. But the US Army cannot, by definition, engage in terrorism. They wear uniforms and are an official military force. According to everything I know about the customs of war and international law, any wrongdoing by official military personnel would be a war crime or crime against humanity. Jehochman ^Talk 22:03, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

It can if RS have accused it of doing so. This is a page about accusation not truths.Slatersteven (talk) 22:11, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

the US Army cannot, by definition, engage in terrorism. -- I would say that depends on whose definitions you are using. According to many of the reliable sources cited in this article, they can and have. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 22:21, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Some writers have extended their definitions of terrorism to include war crimes and crimes against humanity and we may mention that in the article. But we must also mention that it is a minority view, and cannot use it as a hook to provide a detailed explanation of these actions in this article. Nor should we have separate sections for Japan, Indochina, and the Philippines. TFD (talk) 22:42, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I agree that we don't need detailed histories of the events in the article. The only historical information we need is the specific actions which provide the basis for the accusations. For instance, the U.S. government's provision of lists of leftist activists to murder in Indonesia is labeled as an act of state terrorism by one of the sources, so we should briefly mention that action along with the allegation (as in a brief summary of the main article's description of it), in order to give some context to the reader. But we don't need to write a detailed history of U.S. relations with the Indonesian dictatorship -- that should be in the main article. I don't understand what you mean by not needing different sections for Japan, Indochina, etc. The allegations regarding the Vietnam war are completely separate in many cases from those regarding the atomic bombings. Why should they not be separated? -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 00:24, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

TFD -- Actually, can we discuss the layout in a new section, just so we can keep the conversation here focused on the sources for the Japan section? I think your suggestion for restructuring is something we need to consider, and other editors have expressed concern about it as well, but I'd just like to focus on one thing at a time here, so that we don't get sidetracked debating layout/structure issues here instead of sources. Would you mind if I pulled your statement about the sections and my response to it into a new section below? -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 00:35, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

You may move the comments. My point is that Japan, Indochina and the Philippines all have the same issue - can actions carried out by soldiers be desribed as an act of terrorism. TFD (talk) 00:50, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Done, thanks. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 00:57, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Reboot

Seems like things are going great here, but I just wanted to get the ball rolling on SlaterSteven's suggested revision for the atomic bombings section. The last suggestion made was my revision of his original suggestion, namely:

For scholars and historians, the primary ethics debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,[44] relate to whether the use of nuclear weapons were justified. Most scholars tend to view the bombings as an act of war.

However, because concentrated civilian populated areas were targeted to achieve political goals, some hold that it represents an act of state terrorism even though it was done during wartime.[45][46] For example Howard Zinn writes: "if 'terrorism' has a useful meaning (and I believe it does, because it marks off an act as intolerable, since it involves the indiscriminate use of violence against human beings for some political purpose), then it applies exactly to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." Richard Falk writes that while the United States government portrays the bombings as an act of war which was intended to save lives that would have been lost if Japan didn't surrender, the "explicit function of the attacks was to terrorize the population through mass slaughter and to confront its leaders with the prospect of national annihilation", and that "the idea that massive death can be deliberately inflicted on a helpless civilian population as a tactic of war certainly qualifies as state terror of unprecedented magnitude".[53]

Others dispute this conclusion. Burleigh Taylor Wilkins writes that "any definition which allowed the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to count as instances of terrorism would be too broad." He goes on to argue "The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while obviously intended by the American government to alter the policies of the Japanese government, seem for all the terror they involved, more an act of war than of terrorism."”

What, if any, are the objections to this suggestion? Are there any of the sources in the above section that any of you don't feel are being treated fairly? Thanks. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 01:20, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Why not say that while terrorism is usually understood as violence emanating from non-state actors, some writers (Zinn, etc.) have seen some actions of the U.S. military (Hiroshima, etc.) as terrorism because the intent was to terrorize a population. TFD (talk) 09:47, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Is Zinn mainstream or fringe? Jehochman ^Talk 14:44, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Authors are not mainstream or fringe. Ideas are. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 17:29, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

I wouldn't call Zinn 'fringe', but it's clearly a minority opinion in the scholarly world, and clearly part of an effort to redefine the meaning of the term 'terrorism' in scholarship. The term terrorism is actually evolving currently, and probably won't settle down to a clear definition for another decade. The problem is that terrorism (rhetorically) is used to mean illegitimate use of violence, and different people and groups are (obviously) highly opinionated about what constitutes 'legitimate' violence, and how illegitimate violence should cast (as terrorism, as crime, as genocide, as human rights violations...). It's mostly politics: the twin towers were called terrorism, the Oklahoma City bombing was treated as a crime, and the Waco debacle was considered an unfortunate but legitimate use of force, because casting each in that way carried political advantage to the US administration in charge. there's no real analytical reason for the differences.

'State Terrorism' has historically been reserved for governments that use excessive violence to subdue their own populations (or at least populations they claim to have authority over). Generally it was used (in the west) to refer to efforts by socialist dictatorships to to stamp out internal resistance (e.g. the Cambodian massacres under Pol Pot, the Soviet pogroms that occurred from the start of the revolution up through Stalin's regime, Saddam Hussein's treatment of the Kurds). I have no doubt I could find authors who use this restrictive definition of the term to refer to the US treatment of Native Americans, or some US actions in places like the Philippines. You might also find that language used with some of the US support of "pro-democratic" revolutionaries and regimes in Africa and South America, though academics would probably use state-sponsored terrorism rather than state terrorism. But generally speaking, scholars would tend to view the use of the atomic bomb (like the fire bombing of Dresden or the London Blitz) as a potential war crime rather than an act of terrorism. Yes, the intent was to break the will of the government and the population as much if not more than any more concrete military goal, but the line between combatants and non-combatants has been growing progressively thinner as modern warfare has evolved, and there is no question in those cases that an active state of war between two legitimate nations was in force. Not making that distinction would force all acts of war to be considered potential acts of terrorism, which would make the term effectively meaningless. Scholars generally don't like to blur lines like that. --Ludwigs2 17:29, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Yes, Zinn cannot, by definition, be fringe -- only some of his ideas can. For instance, he's also written that Europeans brought smallpox to the Americas, but that's not a fringe statement just because Zinn said it (same with Chomsky, etc.). As far as whether the idea that the atomic bombings were acts of terrorism as well as war crimes/crimes against humanity, I would say that this is not just "Zinn's idea", and is clearly not "fringe", due to the number of academic sources we have talking about it. And I would say that we've found fewer sources denying it than supporting it. You can't claim that because most authors think of the bombings as war crimes, that they don't also think of them as terrorism, unless you've got them saying so in a reliable source. The two categories are not mutually exclusive. Just like I can commit murder by committing an act of terrorism -- you don't have to choose either murder or terrorism, but can say I did both. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 17:54, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

First, let's be clear about three things:

• I believe that most scholars would not think that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were war crimes or terrorism. my sense is that most scholars (and most people) treat them as unfortunate, scary, but entirely legitimate uses of military force. The A-bomb is really just a frigging big bomb, and big bombs are notoriously un-selective about whom they kill. That's war.
• The absence of sources denying a claim either means that the claim is widely accepted or that claim is not sufficiently established in the discipline to merit much discussion. I don't think even you would claim that this is a widely accepted claim in the discipline (you're not going to find it presented in a lot of tertiary sources like textbooks, for instance), so that seems to imply that it hasn't yet received due attention. The book is only three years old, which is barely sufficient time for an idea to worm its way into the academy at all - it may just be a matter of time before we get a more full reflection on it by scholars
• Scholars generally like crisp, clean definitions. yes, colloquially, something can be a war crime, terrorism, murder, genocide, and any other term you care to throw at it, all at once. I've heard tell, as well, that Timothy McVeigh was a jaywalker after he parked his van full of explosives - a truly evil man... Scholars will generally try to pick a single 'most-appropriate' term for a particular class of events, because it makes scholarly conversations far easier when there's no disputes over the meaning of a term in a particular case. we should do the same.

That being said, I agree it's not fringe: we just need to determine proper weight, and in my book this is on the border of being un-includable, because I'm having a hard time seeing how to include it without giving it inappropriate weight. but honestly I need to look into it further. --Ludwigs2 18:59, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

• I believe that most scholars would not think that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were war crimes or terrorism. -- I believe that this depends on which country you are in. I would say that in the United States this is likely true. I would think that the opposite might be true in most of the rest of the world (with the possible exception of Britain). However, I would have to see a survey of the literature to be sure about this, because I haven't done much research into it myself.
• The absence of sources denying a claim either means that the claim is widely accepted or that claim is not sufficiently established in the discipline to merit much discussion. -- It can also mean several other things. For instance, it can mean that it is difficult to logically refute and ideologically threatening, and therefore best to ignore in the hopes that it will go unnoticed by most people outside of academia (which is often effective, when one is aligned with the group that mostly controls the media/educational apparatus). The idea is certainly sufficiently well-established to merit attention, as can be seen from even a cursory search in EBSCO/Jstor/Google books for the term "state terrorism". Jstor alone pulls up 1064 articles for "state terrorism". The concept of "state terrorism" is hardly a "fringe" theory, and only seems to cause problems when applied on the English-language Wikipedia to the United States or Israel.
• I don't think even you would claim that this is a widely accepted claim in the discipline -- I'm not sure about that. I'd have to see a review of the literature. However, I'll note that we've got many more sources supporting the idea than refuting it.
• Scholars generally like crisp, clean definitions. .. Scholars will generally try to pick a single 'most-appropriate' term for a particular class of events -- So do lawyers, and as I said a person can be charged with both murder and terrorism for a single action. This is also the case with nuking a city -- you can logically be charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and state terrorism all at the same time. The categories are not mutually exclusive and just talk about different aspects of the action. When scholars focus on the state terrorism aspect, they are not implying that it's not a war crime, and vice versa. However, when Wilkins says that they are not state terrorist acts, he is focusing on that same aspect and saying that the term doesn't apply. This is what we should look for.

I agree with you that one of the major problems we face here is weighting. I don't want to give undue weight to certain ideas, but at the same time we do need to include statements that are clearly contained in several high-quality academic sources. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:16, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Taking TFD's recommmendation into account, to collapse/remove/shorten Zinn's quote, I've got the following:

For scholars and historians, the primary ethics debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,[44] relate to whether the use of nuclear weapons were justified. Most scholars tend to view the bombings as an act of war.

However, because concentrated civilian populated areas were targeted to achieve political goals, some hold that it represents an act of state terrorism even though it was done during wartime.[45][46] Richard Falk writes that while the United States government portrays the bombings as an act of war which was intended to save lives that would have been lost if Japan didn't surrender, the "explicit function of the attacks was to terrorize the population through mass slaughter and to confront its leaders with the prospect of national annihilation", and that "the idea that massive death can be deliberately inflicted on a helpless civilian population as a tactic of war certainly qualifies as state terror of unprecedented magnitude".[53]

Howard Zinn believes that "if 'terrorism' has a useful meaning ... then it applies exactly to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." However, Burleigh Taylor Wilkins disputes this, writing that "any definition which allowed the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to count as instances of terrorism would be too broad." He goes on to argue "The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while obviously intended by the American government to alter the policies of the Japanese government, seem for all the terror they involved, more an act of war than of terrorism."”

I moved the discussion of definitions down to the bottom, and removed about half of Zinn's quote (keeping the part discussing the definition). Does this resolve the abovementioned concerns? -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:39, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

One more thing, when we introduce a new name, such as Howard Zinn, can we say a few words about who he is so to benefit the casual reader who might not want to interrupt enjoying the atricle at hand by clicking on the Wikilink. For instance, "Yale history professor John Morton Blum writes..." Jehochman ^Talk 20:07, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

So something like "Boston University professor of Political Science, Howard Zinn..."? I wouldn't have a problem with that. We should probably do the same with Falk, etc. I believe that I did this when I included Blakely, and think it's generally a good thing to do the first time you mention a name. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 20:24, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Perfect. That helps make the text more accessible to readers. They aren't left thinking, Who is this Zinn guy? Am I supposed to know who he is? Jehochman ^Talk 03:04, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Agreed. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll be sure to do include that (for all names) in any future revisions. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 04:42, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Do the sources say "However, because concentrated civilian populated areas were targeted to achieve political goals, some hold that it represents an act of state terrorism even though it was done during wartime." These were military and industrial targets. V7-sport (talk) 22:31, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Yes, most of the sources that mention Hiroshima/Nagasaki as state terrorism focus on the targeting of civilian areas. This sentence is a paraphrasing of the sources cited, which clearly support all of this. And whether or not you think they are "military targets" (just like Seattle/Tacoma is a military target due to Ft. Lewis being nearby? Or that New York City is an industrial target?), the sources clearly state that the deliberate targetting of civilians in these cities is the basis for their allegations. Just browse through these -- you can see that it is clearly supported by the sources cited and many others that should be included later. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 22:51, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

I only saw one with the term "state terrorism" and the paraphrasing is selective. Targeting to achieve political goals? (Ie ending the war) Every act of war is to achieve a political goal. Where specifically did those sources state that. Hiroshima was verifiably home of the central command for the southern defense of Japan. Nagasaki was an important seaport and industrial center, both had military significance. The link you provided was to search "terrorism", not state terrorism. As someone here wrote "This is not an article on terrorism." V7-sport (talk) 00:05, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

• Targeting to achieve political goals? (Ie ending the war) Every act of war is to achieve a political goal. Zinn uses that phrase specifically and Falk stated that the purpose was "terrorize the population through mass slaughter and to confront its leaders with the prospect of national annihilation", both of which are political goals. Others have specifically mentioned political goals as well.[27][28][29][[30]. Ending a war is a political goal, whether that war is in Iraq (in the case of the Iraqi insurgency) or Japan (as in the case of the U.S.) The reason that the "political goals" are focused on by the sources cited, is that this is a common definition of terrorism used by the U.S. to define terrorism, and they are showing that when applied to the United States actions. But if you've got a better suggestion for how to paraphrase what the authors are saying (rather than what you think personally), I'd be glad to hear it.
• Nagasaki was an important seaport and industrial center, both had military significance. -- And so is Seattle, but I doubt you'd be justifying it that way if a group of Iraqis or Afghans nuked it to force the U.S. to meet their demands to surrender/leave. Hiroshima/Nagasaki also happened to be cities full of civilians, which is what the authors are focusing on, just like you would focus on that if someone nuked Seattle.
• The link you provided was to search "terrorism", not state terrorism. As someone here wrote "This is not an article on terrorism." -- It's irrelevant whether they use the exact phrase "state terrorism", or talk about the United State government committing terrorism -- they clearly both mean the same thing by all definitions of the term. You were told that this article was about state terrorism, and not terrorism in general, in response to your synth edits based on a segment of U.S. law on terrorism by non-state actors; this is something completely different. In this case, the sources are clearly talking about state terrorism, and so apply here. In your case, they were clearly not talking about state terrorism, and so didn't apply (not to mention that you were doing original research from your off-topic primary source, as well).

Anyhow, if you really feel like this doesn't summarize the views of the authors cited well, then please suggest an improvement. (As in, suggest a concrete way in which the article might be improved, based on reliable sources). -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 00:56, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

"And so is Seattle, but I doubt you'd be justifying it that way if a group of Iraqis or Afghans nuked it to force the U.S. to meet their demands to surrender/leave..... just like you would focus on that if someone nuked Seattle." Thanks for reading my mind again, No, If we declared war on the government of Iraq or Afghanistan and the government of iraq or Afghanistan dropped an atomic bomb on Seattle in order to diminish our capability to fight them (targeting say, the Boeing plant or shipyard ) that would be a legitimate act of war. If it were a non-state actor that would be terrorism.

It's irrelevant whether they use the exact phrase "state terrorism", or talk about the United State government committing terrorism -- they clearly both mean the same thing by all definitions of the term. So when you wrote "- "This is not an article on terrorism. It's an article on state terrorist acts committed by the United States. However, I see now that your definition wouldn't even belong in state terrorism for that matter, as someone else recently pointed out, because it doesn't even mention state terrorism"... that wast then? Since, as you have argued there is a distinction there shouldn't be citations that don't specifically mention "state terrorism". V7-sport (talk) 01:20, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm sorry if I misread you (although I don't believe you that you'd say it was "legitimate" if a foreign nation nuked Seattle). Anyhow, you're deliberately misrepresenting what I've said in the second case, as usual (nowhere did I say that the specific phrase state terrorism had to be used. I simply said that you needed to use sources which are talking about state terrorism, rather than sources which are not talking about it at all.). I'm not going to play a part in you derailing the only productive part of this talk page. Everyone else here is making excellent suggestions on how to improve the article, and I'm not going to let this devolve into another personal quibble with you. You failed to respond to my request for a suggested improvement to the article. I will no longer respond to anything other than specific content suggestions that you make, based on reliable sources. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 01:44, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

" I don't believe you that you'd say it was "legitimate" if a foreign nation nuked Seattle" it would have been an act of war had it been done by another country that the USA was in a state of war with Not an act of terrorism, the point was clear.

"Anyhow, you're deliberately misrepresenting what I've said in the second case, as usual (nowhere did I say that the specific phrase state terrorism had to be used" So this is your attempt at constructive,good faith editing, huh. "Deliberately misrepresenting". You got caught in an inconsistency and your immediate response is to call me a liar for pointing it out.

I'm not going to play a part in you derailing the only productive part of this talk page You just derailed it yourself, again.

"I simply said that you needed to use sources which are talking about state terrorism," And we will know that because they use that phrase...

"You failed to respond to my request for a suggested improvement to the article." Removing the citations that don't cite "state terrorism" was a suggested improvement. An excellent one. You failed to give it proper credence and you failed to be civil, again.V7-sport (talk) 02:28, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

As I've said, I'm only going to respond to content suggestions from you, so here it is:

Removing the citations that don't cite "state terrorism" was a suggested improvement. -- If you mean that it would be an improvement to remove sources, such as the primary source you provided earlier about non-state terrorism (i.e. a source which is explicitly off topic), that don't talk at all about state terrorism, then I agree. However if you are talking about removing sources because they don't use a particular phrase, even when the meaning is the same, then I don't agree. We have chosen the most commonly used terminology for terrorist acts committed by states -- "state terrorism" -- in the title. That doesn't mean that we have to exclude all books which talk about the same subject, but use different terminology (such as saying "state X committed a terrorist act"). There are always multiple ways to phrase things, and selecting one of them for an article title doesn't automatically exclude the use of all of the other ones. The authors cited are all clearly talking about a state committing terrorist acts, which by all definitions of "state terrorism", means that they are talking about state terrorist acts. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:46, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

• If you mean that it would be an improvement to remove sources, such as the primary source you provided earlier about non-state terrorism (i.e. a source which is explicitly off topic) It was about what the USA considers to be terrorism and what it doesn't consider to be terrorism by law and defined it as non-state (sub-national). Your argument that it needed to be excluded here and at the "state terrorism" article is relevant here.
• that don't talk at all about state terrorism, then I agree. OK, so we will know it is "state terrorism" (as opposed to "act of war") because that is the phrase they will use.
• if you are talking about removing sources because they don't use a particular phrase, even when the meaning is the same, then I don't agree. Original research.... Fifelfoo made the argument that it is synthesis. "The following sections contain no claim, or sources for a claim, that the action is considered state terrorism by a noteworthy academic or expert: Indonesia's anti-Communist purges (1965–66) ; Operation Speedy Express (1968–1969) ; Cuba (1959–present) ; Operation Mongoose ; Allegations of harboring terrorists ; Iran (1979–present) ; Jundullah ; People's Mujahedin of Iran ; Iraq (1992–95) ; Lebanon (1985). This is significant as it means these sections are Synthesis. A list of abhorrent actions is synthetic; please find reliable sources of note making the claim that these particular actions constitute state terrorism."V7-sport (talk) 03:09, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

In addition to misrepresenting what I said about your OR/Synth edits based on a U.S. statute (again), you are misrepresenting Fifelfoo's opinions. The quote of his that you cited has absolutely no bearing here. However, one of his other quotes does, namely: "the core issue is to make sure the sources actually hold a position that the events constitute state terrorism, or, in the opinion of that commenter, a position which is so fundamentally similar to the state terrorism thesis that it is identical." (emphasis mine). If we were writing an article on "concentration of media ownership", and some sources talked about "media consolidation" or "centralization of media ownership" or any other phrase that means the same thing, we could include all of them in the article, because they are clearly talking about the same thing. We wouldn't select one of the terms for the title, and then exclude all sources that use the other term. That's a nonsensical argument. The same arguments apply with "The United States government did X which was an act of terrorism." and "X was an act of state terrorism". They mean the same thing. We couldn't select every possible phrase for inclusion in the title, so we picked one -- "state terrorism". That doesn't mean we exclude things that are obviously talking about state terrorism, such as saying that the "United States government did X, which was a terrorist act". -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 04:08, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

In addition to misrepresenting what I said about your OR/Synth edits based on a U.S. statute (again), you are misrepresenting Fifelfoo's opinions I quoted what he wrote. I haven't misrepresented anything. You saying otherwise is a another lie. He does make an excellent argument.

"the core issue is to make sure the sources actually hold a position that the events constitute state terrorism, or, in the opinion of that commenter, a position which is so fundamentally similar to the state terrorism thesis that it is identical." Since neither of us can read minds using the phrase "state terrorism" ought to do.

"If we were writing an article on "concentration of media ownership", and some sources talked about [...] because they are clearly talking about the same thing" However, since we are writing an article about "state terrorism" which is different from "state sponsored terrorism", "terror", "terrorism", "war crimes", etc, we ought to avoid original research.

""The United States government did X which was an act of terrorism." and "X was an act of state terrorism"" I haven't noticed a lot of constructs like that. Mostly things like 'non selective terrorism' or terrorized, etc. V7-sport (talk) 04:39, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

I quoted what he wrote. I haven't misrepresented anything. -- You quoted something which had nothing to do with whether or not the exact phrase "state terrorism" needed to be used. Falsely attributing an unintended meaning to someone else's statement is misrepresentation. (Especially when you know that the person said precisely the opposite of the meaning you are attributing to them).

we are writing an article about "state terrorism" which is different from "state sponsored terrorism", "terror", "terrorism", "war crimes" -- State sponsored terrorism is a type of state terrorism. Terror and terrorism are inclusive of state terrorism; and all terrorism committed by agents (in the sense of agency) of a state is state terrorism. War crimes can sometimes be considered terrorist acts as well, but if a source simply says "war crimes" without mentioning terrorism, state terrorism, etc., then it does not warrant inclusion in this article. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 04:52, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

"You quoted something which had nothing to do with whether or not the exact phrase "state terrorism" needed to be used." Had you read what I wrote you would have noticed that his quote wasn't the entirety of my argument. Further, since you went over to his talk page to ask for clarification you don't have the basis for stating that I mischaracterized what he wrote.

"Falsely attributing an unintended meaning to someone else's statement is misrepresentation. (Especially when you know that the person said precisely the opposite of the meaning you are attributing to them)." Well no, he didn't say the opposite of the quote I used, I cut and pasted it from him. Again, that you went to his talk page to ask for clarification shows that you are more interested in simply calling me a liar then addressing what I have written in a substantive way.

"State sponsored terrorism is a type of state terrorism." There is no agreed upon definition of "state terrorism". V7-sport (talk) 05:22, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

There is no consensus definition of state terrorism -- i.e. not everyone agrees when exactly it is that a state has committed terrorism. But all of the definitions agree that if a state commits terrorism, then it is state terrorism. Anyhow, we're going around in circles now, and it's clear that the sources cited support the "political goals" aspect that you were so concerned about. So this conversation is over, as far as I'm concerned, unless someone else has something new to add. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 05:59, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

There is no consensus definition of state terrorism -- i.e. not everyone agrees when exactly it is that a state has committed terrorism. You've stipulated that now.

"But all of the definitions agree that if a state commits terrorism, then it is state terrorism." Since the definition of terrorism is in dispute as well we need to be precise. You see, the way the US Law defines "terrorism" it is not something states engage in, it is limited to subnational entities. (the term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents) Further, as historians have pointed out, it is highly arguable as to whether many of the acts being called "state terrorism" are terrorism or acts of war.

Anyhow, we're going around in circles now, and it's clear that the sources cited support the political goals You need to come up with a source that says something to the effect of "However, because concentrated civilian populated areas were targeted to achieve political goals, some hold that it represents an act of state terrorism even though it was done during wartime." Because the "concentrated civilian populated areas" also had valid military targets associated with them and were targeted to achieve military goals and it has been said that war is the continuation of politics by other means. V7-sport (talk) 06:33, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

We have at least 7 scholarly works that explicitly state that the atomic bombings constituted state terrorism, or that notable commentators have made such a connection, the US legal definition of terrorism matters little. un☯mi 06:50, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

More than 7. We've just quoted 7 above. And I haven't even gone past the 2000+ Google Books results yet, and started digging through Jstor/EBSCO. It's pretty clear that this is worthy of mention here, and that it is an extremely notable and widely accepted idea. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 07:00, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

that's not the argument I was making here. V7-sport (talk) 07:08, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

It might not seem to address you, because I'm responding to Unomi. If you are responding to Unomi and not to me, then use proper talk page formatting so that people can understand who you're talking to. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 07:28, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

It might not seem to address you, because I'm responding to Unomi. It was irrelevant to the point being made and you have been told by other editors that interjecting on the talk page is not a formatting issue.V7-sport (talk) 23:04, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

You need to come up with a source that says something to the effect of -- No, I don't. We don't have to use sources that say word for word what we're saying in the article. They just have to mean the same thing. But I'll humor you. Here you go. Anyhow, what you're saying has no basis in logic (as demonstrated nicely by my "media concentration" analogy) or policy, but even if it did, you'd now have a source that would satisfy your needs. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 07:00, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

"We don't have to use sources that say word for word what we're saying in the article. They just have to mean the same thing." You do when if it is debatable as to whether they mean the same thing.

"Here you go" Again, not the same argument I was making. V7-sport (talk) 07:08, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Again, not the same argument I was making -- In this case, I was actually responding to you, and yes it was exactly what you are talking about. A source that both defines terrorism as violence towards civilians with political purposes, and claims that the bombings of Hiroshima/Nagasaki were acts of state terrorism. Read it again. Anyhow, as I pointed out, the argument you were making is irrelevant, but now you've got a source that resolves it anyway. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 07:28, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

• Are you two married? Please stop arguing with each other. None of us are interested in it, and we'd like to focus on the article instead. Jehochman ^Talk 15:39, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

No, we're not married. In this case, V7-sport actually began focusing on a specific problem that he perceived with the article (albeit a quibble over wording), so I was trying to be supportive of that, while ignoring the personal issues he brought up. I was hoping that doing so would result in him starting to provide sources or suggestions for improvement, which unfortunately didn't happen. But anyhow, his "issue" has been resolved, so yes, the argument should be over. And please don't imply that I'm not trying to focus on the article, by the way. I initiated the RFC process to deal with the conflict, and I have contributed several suggested revisions and sources to the article, which is more than many people here can say for themselves. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 15:51, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

albeit a quibble over wording It is not a "quibble over wording". Since there is a difference between "state terrorism" and terrorism, terror, terrorizing, state sponsored terrorism, fear, panic, intimidation, war crimes, war, foreign policy, radio broadcasting, etc, we are going to need to be precise in the citations allowed.

"I was trying to be supportive of that" Now that's a lie. " But anyhow, his "issue" has been resolved" Another lie.

Why not lose the ""However, because concentrated civilian populated areas were targeted to achieve political goals" portion or attribute it directly to the author making the statement? In the citations that you repeatedly say "here you go" as if it were a done deal, I have not seen that statement. If it exists, attribute it to it's author. V7-sport (talk) 23:04, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

All responded to above. Anyhow, since you seem to be the only person concerned about this, I'm going to stop worrying about it and continue working on the article. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 03:46, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

simply ignoring the issue isn't going to make it go away. V7-sport (talk) 07:14, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

• I was specifically asked to comment here about my discussion of synthesis where I said, "the core issue is to make sure the sources actually hold a position that the events constitute state terrorism, or, in the opinion of that commenter, a position which is so fundamentally similar to the state terrorism thesis that it is identical." (Emphasis added).
• If Foo says, "The involvement of the Orangeland State in the Blueland massacre of communists in 1970 constitutes state terrorism..."; and, Foo's discussion is about state terrorism; and, Foo has expertise to discuss state terrorism (ie: academic, notable political commentor on Orangeland or Blueland or State terrorism); then, the Blueland massacre of communists in 1970 should be included here to the extent that Foo and Foo alone discusses it.
• If Bar and Bok notably (see previous point) define "State terrorism" as "feeding people ice cream" and then Baz writes in her notable (see previous point) work, "Orangeland was fundamentally involved in feeding people ice cream in Blueland in 1930;" then, the 1930 ice cream feeding incident should be included to the extent that Baz and Baz alone discusses the 1930 ice cream feeding incident.
• If Bar and Bok notably (sp.) write, "Foo's discussion of "pogo stick contests" is part of this literature of state terrorism; and, Foo notably wrote on Orangeland pogo stick contests; then, Foo's notable (sp.) discussion of Orangeland pogo stick contests should be included to the extent that Foo and Foo alone discusses Orangeland pogo stick contests.
• I hope this clears up the issue of Synthesis and Original Research and avoiding Coatracking in an article discussing a social science theory in relation to a specific state's actions. We do not judge if Foo, Bar, Bok or Baz is true and correct, we report their academic or notable commentator opinions, and only combine opinions to the extent that the opinions are identical. "The ice cream eating syndrome: eating a frozen milk treat" and "the gelato eating syndrome: eating a frozen milk treat" is a good example of two concepts so fundamentally identical that they should be treated the same despite minor wording differences. Fifelfoo (talk) 04:00, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for clarifying. V7-sport (talk) 07:14, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

9/11

How about adding 9/11 to this topic? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.34.28.104 (talk) 00:08, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

Jup, it's long overdue, as finally a mainstream political science journal is treating 9/11 as a possible act of (US) state terrorism, framing "9/11 truth" no longer as conspiracy theories, but as State Crimes Against Democracy (SCAD) -> http://abs.sagepub.com/content/vol53/issue6/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.56.162.131 (talk) 13:09, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Does self attacking count as terrorism? 66.183.58.186 (talk) 01:30, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

of course it is, if the executive branch of governments executes parts of its own population. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.56.162.131 (talk) 20:27, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm also very surprised there is not any link with 911. Not implying anything, we could at least mention it. Like it's done for Operation_Northwoods.

Oh Jesus! Conspiraloons. Stick to the real world please! There is zero evidenec of 9/11 being a "false flag!". Yeah, I know I am either "sheeple" or "Mossad!" ZZZ! Get a life! 92.11.174.68 (talk) 08:39, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

@92.11.174.68 - this isn't a foxnews forum posting, this is wikipedia. if there are reliable sources 9/11 should be included. truthers.org have many examples of questionable material they've uncovered directly attributable to major global news services. they should atleast be compiled. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.172.13.218 (talk) 19:22, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

To be helpful to this article, please do not post general statements along the lines of: add 9/11 stuff because allegations are out there. If you wish to make a proposal for a contribution with a RS to back it up fully, do so.--NYCJosh (talk) 05:17, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

Why not add 9/11 trutherism and maybe some reptilian shape shifters for the NWO? This article couldn't be more of a disgrace then it already is. V7-sport (talk) 01:44, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

Well if 9/11 was an attack the government executed on itself, im sure that those peple in the government would be classified as "terrorists". I fully suport it being added here, but saying something along the lines of "It is disputed whether or not this attack was an inside job by the government o whether it was an attack by an outside country or group." It should *NOT* say that evedince goes on way or another. Who ever does it may want to include links to both sides of the conflict as well.DONT MESS (talk) 19:08, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

If an RS says that teh US governemnt or its actions are anti-American then you cna include it.Slatersteven (talk) 19:30, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

whys it an allegation when the u.s., and europe does it, but when others like iran, yemen, iraq, or afganistan does it, then no one questions the validity of these claims? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sd8fya9y (talk • contribs) 17:15, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

Possible reliable sources

• Gareau, Frederick H. (2004). State Terrorism and the United States ISBN 1-84277-535-9.[31] The Four Deuces (talk)
• review of Gareau's book in Social Justice.[32] The Four Deuces (talk)
• Poole, Steven (2006) Unspeak [33] Hotdrop! (talk) 07:43, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

RfC: Should we delete the "Definitions" section, and just wikilink to state terrorism

Should there be an entire section in this article dedicated to defining state terrorism, or should we just wikilink to the article on state terrorism and have detailed definitions there? Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:56, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

• See compromise attempt in extended discussion below

Keep but reduce If you delete the definiton section makes the problems this article has worse. It is now an article that calls anyones problem with the USA terrorism. 64.134.66.239 (talk)

• Delete -- remove the "Definitions" section, and wikilink to state terrorism -- For the same reason we don't dedicate an entire section to defining racism in the article Racism in the United States, or to defining history in History of the United States. When people want a general definition of what racism is, they go to the article racism. Likewise, if people want a detailed definition of what state terrorism is, they go to state terrorism. This article is about state terrorist acts committed by the United States, not about state terrorism in general. We don't write a different definition for each article we have reliable sources applying the term to. The definition of state terrorism does not differ, depending on which country you are applying the term to. I recommend that we wikilink to state terrorism and to definitions of terrorism, rather than going completely off-topic, and reinventing the wheel here. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:56, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Keep I wouldn't use racism as a comparable definition to terrorism. The definition of terrorism or state terrorism for that matter, much like this article, is controversial and uncertain. Defining terrorism itself is a study and a problem. I think the definition section is an important opening for readers so they understand the background on what state terrorism may or may not be considered.--NortyNort (Holla) 05:00, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

• Strong Keep, the topic specifically references the United States and should include a definitions section with information peculiar to the country in question. IE, how US law defines "terrorism". This is important in determining what the country in question considers to be an "act of terrorism" rather then an "act of war" or "war crime". Keeping the definition deliberately ambiguous and ill-defined o is a tactic to allow it to become a WP:Coatrack of accusations. A proper "definitions" section will provide a framework whereby a problematic article can be rehabilitated. Indeed, the article has had a definitions section for years, it only became an issue when I attempted to insert the US legal definition of terrorism, something entirely relevant to the topic. V7-sport (talk) 03:52, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

See extended discussion below

• Delete - Replace with wikilink, optionally with the contents of the lead of State Terrorism. The article is already tagged for length and there is no reason to rehash a discussion of definitions, which our article on the matter indicates is unsettled. We are of course free to mention that the US officially rejects the label and the reason why, but this does indeed in no way prejudice content, so the keep argument above misses the mark. un☯mi 05:06, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

• Delete - A wikilink will suffice. The definitions section is mostly cruft, irrelevant to the specific topic of the US and state terrorism. In the lede we can say that the definition or even existence of state terrorism is debated. In my understanding "state terrorism" is a misnomer. States can commit acts of war, genocide, crimes against humanity. Terrorism is committed by non-state actors. Jehochman ^Talk 14:31, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

See extended discussion below

• partial delete - paraphrase here and luink to theother article. Perhaps through a small section, or part of the lead with the wikilink given.(Lihaas (talk) 17:55, 29 December 2010 (UTC)).

See extended discussion below

• Delete - Wikilinks to Definitions of Terrorism, and possibly to State Terrorism articles, will suffice. (1) I am not againt a definition section in principle, but since every word of this article is so hyper-scrutinized, it would become a long section with several contested definitions and lots of edit warring, and in the end would leave the reader no better off than if s/he had just read the linked articles. (2) Having said that, when relevant and fully supported, if a source mentions a definition of terrorism in relation to a particular event or organization discussed in the article, there is no reason why it cannot be included.--NYCJosh (talk) 18:03, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

• Keep - But it shouldn't be about the United States' own definition of terrorism, but about what the accusers say is state terrorism, and contrasting that with U.S. law and dissenting views. The definitions section would not proscribe what would be included later on in the article, but explain how the word is used: and it's only necessary where in other cases a wikilink would suffice because "terrorism", especially in relations to states, is such a loaded, controversial, and misunderstood term. As a bonus, a definitions section would be a defense against future editors who argue for the largescale removal of material on the grounds that the accusers' definitions of state terrorism do not match the U.S.'s. Quigley (talk) 18:23, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

• Delete - Obviously you need a sentence or two, but not a whole section, unless that section is about how the US government tries to wiggle out of being held to the same standard that it applies to other nations it accuses of state terrorism, or vice versa some undue international definitions unfairly applied to the US. (Something which also might be relevant to the main State terrorism article. If there is more info that needs to be added to, cleaned up in the definition of State terrorism, it should be done on that article. CarolMooreDC (talk) 23:09, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Carol -- You said "but not a whole section, unless that section is about how the US government tries to wiggle out of being held to the same standard that it applies to other nations it accuses of state terrorism, or vice versa some undue international definitions unfairly applied to the US." I just wanted to point out that this should actually be included in the "General allegations" section (which should be renamed to "General theories", or something equally neutral), which already discusses the concept of applying the label of "state terrorism" to U.S. actions. Even if this were included, it would belong in that section, and not a "definitions section". U.S. government disagreements about the definition of state terrorism belong in state terrorism, and should be very briefly summarized here. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:09, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Extended discussion

Re V7-sport keep

Collapsing largely off-topic personal discussion between two editors

the topic specifically references the United States and should include a definitions section with information peculiar to the country in question. IE, how US law defines "terrorism". -- Nobody is preventing you from discussing the United States' government's views on why none of its actions can be considered state terrorism in the section on "general allegations", or from discussing their views on why specific actions were not terrorist acts. However, the United States' views on what state terrorism is belong in the article on state terrorism, unless they are specifically being cited as evidence in an argument about U.S. state terrorism. Keeping the definition deliberately ambiguous and ill-defined o is a tactic to allow it to become a WP:Coatrack of accusations. A proper "definitions" section will provide a framework whereby a problematic article can be rehabilitated. -- You only believe this because you have not listened to any of the editors who have tried to explain WP:OR and WP:V to you. Assuming we did keep a definitions section in this article, what it says would have absolutely no bearing on which content is included in this article. The fact that you think the definitions section will have a bearing on content is why people keep citing WP:SYNTH to you. Please read it. Then read WP:V. What you'll find there is that we include information in the article based on what reliable sources say. If a reliable source says that a U.S. action was state terrorism, we will include that in the article, irrespective of what the "Definitions" section says. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 04:03, 29 December 2010 (UTC) "Nobody is preventing you from discussing[...} views" So why the objection to the inclusion of US law into the definitions section that has existed for several years that you now want to remove?" "the United States' views on what state terrorism is belong in the article on state terrorism".. The idea that the lawful definition of the word terrorism, the very thing that the USA is being accused of in this article has no place in this article is farcical. It's Kafkaesque. It's an insult to other editors intelligence to ask them to pretend that the legal definition of terrorism in the USA has no place in an article about terrorism and the USA. ''You only believe this because you have not listened to any of the editors who have tried to explain WP:OR and WP:VItalic text Thank you for re-fraiming my argument in the most self serving and inaccurate way possible. The partial quote was from a secondary source which discussed it's implementation and was backed by a primary source which were both verifiable, indeed, unimpeachable. It has been deleted several times without notice. "Assuming we did keep a definitions section in this article, what it says would have absolutely no bearing on which content is included in this article." Why don't we focus on one issue at a time.V7-sport (talk) 04:40, 29 December 2010 (UTC) So why the objection to the inclusion of US law into the definitions section that has existed for several years that you now want to remove? -- This question has nothing to do with the section you just quoted, but the reasons why it should not be included have already been pointed out to you by multiple editors. The idea that the lawful definition of the word terrorism, the very thing that the USA is being accused of in this article has no place in this article is farcical. -- No it's not. As has already been pointed out multiple times, this is not an article that is trying to explain to readers what state terrorism is. The article serving that purpose is state terrorism, and I wholeheartedly welcome the addition of the U.S. government's definition of state terrorism there. But this is an article that is discussing state terrorist acts committed by the United States, not what state terrorism is. Those are two totally different topics. This article should discuss the topic at hand, not the topic of state terrorism. There is no reason to write a "custom" section defining state terrorism here. I've posed an analogy to you multiple times and I'd like you to respond to it: we don't have a lengthy section defining "racism" in the article Racism in the United States. We simply link to the article racism. Why do you not feel that is appropriate for this topic? Thank you for re-fraiming my argument in the most self serving and inaccurate way possible. -- How did I "reframe your argument" in an "innaccurate way"? You said "Keeping the definition deliberately ambiguous and ill-defined o is a tactic to allow it to become a WP:Coatrack of accusations. A proper "definitions" section will provide a framework whereby a problematic article can be rehabilitated." I pointed out that the definition being "ambiguous" would have no bearing on the content of the article, because we don't include things based on our understanding of the term's definition. Inserting a definition section does not "provide a framework" for anything, because we don't base content decisions on other parts of the article. We include things solely based on whether reliable sources have discussed the acts as state terrorism. I didn't misrepresent anything you said. You just said something that is completely incorrect, and I pointed it out to you. Why don't we focus on one issue at a time. -- Interesting comment to make in a bullet-pointed post. We are discussing multiple issues, because there are multiple issues with your response, which made multiple assertions. Why don't you just acknowledge that you have misunderstood WP:V and WP:SYNTH and didn't realize that we don't use the Definitions section as a basis for inclusion of content. There is nothing wrong with admitting fault, especially when you are still learning about Wikipedia policy. I don't think anyone would hold it against you if you simply admitted that you didn't understand the policy. Jrtayloriv (talk) 05:21, 29 December 2010 (UTC) *How did I "reframe your argument" in an "innaccurate ay" You stated that "You only believe this because you have not listened ", it' condescending and wrong. "I pointed out that the definition being "ambiguous" (nothing spells "overcompensation" like spell check) would have no bearing on the content of the article" The way the USA defines what is and what is not a terrorist act is important to the article in it's own right. It is critical because it shows that there by the terms set forth by a lawfully and democratically elected, representative government the US legal code does not define "terrorism" the same way as the commentators who you are arguing for inclusion would. In short, you have created an article whereby an effective balance is impossible. (A shocking revelation no doubt) "I didn't misrepresent anything you said." You attributed beliefs to me that I do not hold, a misrepresentation. Why don't we focus on one issue at a time. -- Interesting comment to make in a bullet-pointed post Since you are essentially arguing for this definition to be excluded on the grounds of how it may be used rather then on it's own merits for encyclopedic inclusion I thought it would be better to compartmentalize your argument so you are not putting the cart before the horse. Otherwise you look like you are pre-emptively trying to censor something because don't like the way it might potentially effect the articles narrative. "Why don't you just acknowledge that you have misunderstood WP:V and WP:SYNTH"...Thanks for the condesention, again. This entire article is riddled with Synth, and especially POV, this was just the first attempt at addressing it. So far you and yours have not allowed one comma to be changed. Not really something to be proud of IMO. "There is nothing wrong with admitting fault, especially when you are still learning about Wikipedia policy." Cute. Including the Governments definition of terrorism in an article on government terrorism is not "synth". What, SPECIFICALLY was not "verifiable" about the citation? V7-sport (talk) 06:30, 29 December 2010 (UTC) The way the USA defines what is and what is not a terrorist act is important to the article in it's own right. -- This is not an article on terrorism. It's an article on state terrorist acts committed by the United States. However, I see now that your definition wouldn't even belong in state terrorism for that matter, as someone else recently pointed out, because it doesn't even mention state terrorism. If there was a U.S. statute that had a definition of state terrorism, I would welcome mention of it in state terrorism, however. Regardless, I don't care about your definition. That's not what this discussion is about. If I was worried about your definition, I would not have needed to file an RFC, because every single experienced editor agreed that it was not worthy of inclusion. Your definition simply wasn't going to stay whether I filed an RFC or not. But I filed an RFC because I think the entire section needs to go. I'm trying to remove all of the definitions, the large majority of which I agree with, because a definitions section simply does not belong in this article at all. It belongs in state terrorism. So please stop obsessing over your definition, which nobody cares about and has clearly told you will not be included here, and try to focus on what this RFC is about -- i.e. whether or not we include a definitions section at all. It is critical because it shows that there by the terms set forth by a lawfully and democratically elected, representative government the US legal code does not define "terrorism" the same way as the commentators who you are arguing for inclusion would. -- Again, this is an article on state terrorism not terrorism in general. But more importantly, this still shows me that you haven't read WP:RS as I've recommended to you several times. Please point me to where in WP:RS there is something about "lawfully and democratically elected, representative governments". You attributed beliefs to me that I do not hold, a misrepresentation. -- Which ones? Are you really trying to deny that you weren't pushing to remove content based on the contents of the Definitions section? You've clearly stated this as the case, and are only denying it now that you've been backed into a corner, and instead are denying that you said it and claiming that I am "misrepresenting your statements". Please explain this diff and tell me how it doesn't show either misunderstanding of both WP:V and WP:SYNTH (and WP:DISRUPTIVE for that matter). But now let's get to some concrete examples of misrepresentations: Since you are essentially arguing for this definition to be excluded on the grounds of how it may be used rather then on it's own merits for encyclopedic inclusion -- Please point me to where I argued this. Otherwise you look like you are pre-emptively trying to censor something because don't like the way it might potentially effect the articles narrative. -- Wrong, and a poor attempt at mind reading. So far you and yours have not allowed one comma to be changed. -- False. In fact, I've contributed significantly more than you to the article, both in addition and removal of content, so I'm clearly not opposed to the article changing. And the only thing I prevented from you was your deletion of all of the content in the article, and your original research from primary sources. For instance, I agreed with your edit regarding the Wikileaks Red Cell report and did nothing to block it, because it was valid. The only reason that most of your edits have been blocked by myself and other experienced editors is that they are flagrant violations of the policies we've tried to share with you several times each, yet which you have disruptively continued flaunting. Including the Governments definition of terrorism in an article on government terrorism is not "synth". -- Nor did I ever say it was. I said that what you said you were doing (and are now denying) -- i.e. removing content because it didn't (in your opinion) meet the government's definition of terrorism (not even the government's definition of state terrorism, which is the topic of this article, for that metter) was in violation of WP:SYNTH, as was your mistaken belief that the definition section would have any bearing on the content included in the rest of the article. What, SPECIFICALLY was not "verifiable" about the citation? -- I never said anything wasn't verifiable in the citation you gave. Myself and Fifelfoo pointed out to you that it was in violation of WP:PRIMARY. I cited WP:V to counter your belief that what the definition section says would have any bearing on inclusion into the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jrtayloriv (talk • contribs) Thanks for the 4636 character reply. Nothing maniacal abut it.... "This is not an article on terrorism. It's an article on state terrorist acts committed by the United States." LOL, Allegedly committed by the USA and yes, THAT IS WHY THE US DEFINITION OF TERRORISM IS IMPORTANT. 'However, I see now that your definition wouldn't even belong in state terrorism for that matter, as someone else recently pointed out, because it doesn't even mention state terrorism." Indeed, the whole point, that which you are trying to bury, is that it doesn't recognize the concept. Hence the "subnational groups" portion of the definition of terrorism. That is what you are specifically trying to bury. Are you really going to expect people to buy the argument that the way US law defines terrorism is irrelevant, but whatever a grad student decides it is warrants inclusion? " Regardless, I don't care about your definition. ", Excellent, so you can stop reverting it. " I would not have needed to file an RFC, because every single experienced editor agreed that it was not worthy of inclusion." "Experienced equals someone who agrees with you no doubt.You like tossing your weight around until you get your own way, huh. Isn't that what you like to condemn the USA for? "Your definition simply wasn't going to stay whether I filed an RFC or not" It isn't "my definition", it's the law of the country that s being discussed. The law that you live under as well. "I'm trying to remove all of the definitions," So it can remain anything to anyone and the content that you agree with can be included, whatever you object to you can block because of all that "experience". got ya. "So please stop obsessing over your definition, which nobody cares about and has clearly told you will not be included here" Where do you get off writing to people that way? Would you speak to me that way if I were in the same room? Nope. ""Please point me to where in WP:RS there is something about "lawfully and democratically elected, representative governments"." And once again, the sources were from Cornell and the national and another government agency writing on how they were to be implemented. But regardless, there was no effort to interpret it, Just to present it as fact. It is Fact. it is verifiable, it is reliably sourced and it is directly related to the topic at hand. """You attributed beliefs to me that I do not hold, a misrepresentation. -- Which ones? for the second time, you wrote "You only believe this because you have not listened to any of the editors who have tried to explain WP:OR and WP:" which is patently false. Please do not tell me what I believe and do not believe. That is a misrepresentation. Got it yet? "Are you really trying to deny that you weren't pushing to remove content based on the contents of the Definitions section? " The longer term goal will be to purge the bias out of this article, and it is rife with POV and fringe claims, but the edit war was over the inclusion of the definition of terrorism. Are you really going to denty that you are only now trying to remove the definitions section that has been up there for years because someone is attempting to include a definition that doesn't conform to what your POV? ''You've clearly stated this as the case, Indeed, from the moment I contacted ytou on your talk page and asked you to stop removing the POV tags. "and are only denying it now " What have I denied? Thanks for mischaracterizing my position again. To be clear and to re-state the obvious, I think this article is a mess and as such, unworthy for inclusion in the Encyclopedia. V7-sport (talk) 09:55, 29 December 2010 (UTC) "Please explain this diff When I happened across this article I was trying to figure out whether or not it would be best to re-edit it or nominate it for deletion, pending that I put the POV tags back up that you removed. You reverted that, I contacted you on your talk page and asked you to cut it out until I could figure out how best to handle it, The archive, which oI tried to post on this talk page and one of your associates that you have since been in contact with removed is here, on your freshly deleted talk page, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jrtayloriv&diff=404595994&oldid=404573343 In which we went back and forth on the article for a while and you set about tweaking and (in some cases in content to an already bloated, POV ridden mess.) You also set about enlisting help to get the POV tags removed with other editors while you and I were supposedly discussing how to purge the bias on your talk page. Obviously you weren't serious. When you asked me to tell you specifically what was POV in the article I showed you with that diff. I am quoting myself here so you can not read it a second time: "If there is something I missed that isn't POV that and conforms to this definition I apologize. I will add that the administrator who oversaw the previous deletion discussion stated "I'd be quite tempted to go with "delete and start over", So herein is an opportunity." Of course you weren't interested in improving the article, otherwise you wouldn't have been so duplicitous in the way you were paying lip service to editing it and then canvasing like minded editors to maintain it as such. So the "opportunity" went bye bye. V7-sport (talk) 10:19, 29 December 2010 (UTC) "Since you are essentially arguing for this definition to be excluded on the grounds of how it may be used rather then on it's own merits for encyclopedic inclusion -- Please point me to where I argued this." OK; "Assuming we did keep a definitions section in this article, what it says would have absolutely no bearing on which content is included in this article. The fact that you think the definitions section will have a bearing on content is why people keep citing WP:SYNTH to you." So far you and yours have not allowed one comma to be changed. -- In fact, I've contributed significantly more than you to the article, both in addition and removal of content" LOL, Every attempt at an edit that I have made has been reverted, you jealously guard this page and have for a while now. During the previous attempt to delete this you addressed another editor with "If I'm forced to I'll respond with the numerous arguments against this in the LAST 8 DELETION DISCUSSIONS WHICH HAVE ALL RESULTED IN "KEEP" (yes, I just screamed at you) ... but I'd really rather not repeat myself and everyone else there, again. Please stop wasting people's time here, and go and read the last 8 discussions to see why this simply is not going to happen. Spend your time improving the article ".. Again, bet you don't talk to people that way face to face and again, any attempt to "improve the article" has been blocked and again, tantrums abound. V7-sport (talk) 10:41, 29 December 2010 (UTC) I've already responded to everything you've said here, very little of which is even the topic of this RFC. See my responses above. The only thing you've added is complaints that my tone sounds harsh. In your posts, you've resorted to calling me "maniacal", saying you were going to "call the waaaammmbulance", telling me that spell-checking my posts is "overcompensating", saying the I "like tossing my own weight around", that filing for third-party mediation is a "lame attempt to assert myself", accusing me of trying to "censor" the article, calling my complaints about your behavior "tantrums", etc. etc. etc. ... all while you ignore multiple editors trying to explain WP:SYNTH to you, and repeatedly stating that you think that your definition of terrorism being included in the article is somehow going to influence the rest of the article's content. Yes, your consistent personal attacks, disruption of the article (i.e. trying to delete all of the content, adding unexplained tags, insertion of primary sources, even though multiple editors have repeatedly explained to you why you can't do all of this, etc) and other shenanigans have caused me to use a sharp tone with you. I'm very sorry, and I'll try to talk in a more soothing tone to you. But anyhow, I'm done with this conversation, until something new is added, because you're just repeating yourself, and it's not even on topic (maybe start a new section if you want to keep talking about your definition). -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 14:24, 29 December 2010 (UTC) Your tone has been condescending from the start and your user talk page shows that it has been a problem for other editors as well. Declaring without any legitimate authority that the content that I have submitted for inclusion will not be included and by your own admission "Screaming" at other editors for "wasting your time" adds an hysterical element to it. None of which are welcome on Wikipedia and would doubtfully be employed in a face to face encounter. I have not ignored the synthesis or primary advice, had you looked at what I have written you will see that I have addressed that in triplicate at this point. I have cited secondary sources as well as primary sources (Primary sources are not automatically forbidden on Wikipedia by the way, just not preferred) "I'm very sorry, and I'll try to talk in a more soothing tone to you." Fair enough, I do not need a soothing tone however, what I am after is a productive good faith effort to purge this article of it's bias and POV.V7-sport (talk) 00:27, 30 December 2010 (UTC) Your tone has been condescending from the start and your user talk page shows that it has been a problem for other editors as well. -- Originally, I was helpful to you, and accepted the single valid edit you've suggested, which was to remove the Wikileaks red cell bit. I began using a harsher tone with you once you started making incessant personal attacks, and making disruptive edits (like blanking the article and misusing primary sources) even after being told that you were violating policy. I will acknowledge that, in the past, I have used a harsh tone with editors who have contributed nothing but disruption and personal attacks, and they have whined about it on my talk page, but nothing every came of their whining, because nobody took them seriously. And since your other statements are repetitions of things that have been responded to previously, I'll limit my response to "See above". -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 01:30, 30 December 2010 (UTC) I began using a harsher tone with you once you started making incessant personal attacks, and making disruptive edits -simply not true, from the onset you left little doubt that you thought I was "wasting your time" for having an issue with this article. ' I have used a harsh tone with editors who have contributed nothing but disruption and personal attacks, and they have whined about it on my talk page, but nothing every came of their whining, because nobody took them seriously.'' So because there were no repercussions you continue, any disagreement or call for civility is not "whining". Perhaps you shouldn't view other peoples editing attempts as "personal attacks". V7-sport (talk) 01:50, 30 December 2010 (UTC) from the onset you left little doubt that you thought I was "wasting your time" for having an issue with this article. -- Here, you are lying again. As people can verify from our initial interactions, this is simply not the case. From the onset, I let you know that you would be wasting your time by pushing for a tenth deletion discussion (which you ultimately responded to by blanking the article instead). I then proceeded to explain to you that you have to give specific reasons for adding tags, after which I said that I agreed with you regarding your Wikileaks red cell edit. Anyhow, I welcome you or anyone else reading this to find for me the part of our conversation where I let you know "from the onset" that you were wasting my time. I never said anything about you wasting my time "for having issues with the article", and have clearly stated several times now that I think there are many issues with this article. To me it looks like I was giving you a lot of my time by explaining things like WP:NOTABLE (i.e. why a tenth deletion discussion would ultimately fail), and how you should go about adding tags. Once you realized that the consensus was that the article simply will not be deleted, you proceeded to blank the article. This, and your persistent efforts to try to insert original research /SYNTH against consensus, is when I stopped being helpful to you and started viewing you as a disruptive editor. any disagreement or call for civility is not "whining". -- Again, a misrepresentation of what I said. Please point me to where I said that disagreement or calls for civility were "whining". I said that people who are persistently making flagrant personal attacks against me (saying that I'm "overcompensating" and making "lame attempts to assert myself", claiming that I'm trying to censor the article, or calling me "maniacal", in your case), and come to my talk page complaining about my "harsh tone" are whining. I never said that disagreements are whining, nor did I say that calls for civility are whining. I claimed that the exact type of behavior I mentioned here and above were whining, and are not taken seriously by anyone. Perhaps you shouldn't view other peoples editing attempts as "personal attacks". -- I welcome you to find where I said that other people's editing attempts are personal attacks. I did, however, point out that your flagrant personal attacks (listed above) were personal attacks. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:27, 30 December 2010 (UTC) And yet it continues.... 'Here, you are lying again. I amend that, you told me I would be wasting "my" time instead of wasting yours. I should give you credit there because there has been lots of time expended for no discernible result. which you ultimately responded to by blanking the article instead After you had rolled back all the edits I had made over the course of a couple of days, been-stringing me along while canvassing other editors, doing your best to solidify your position and even adding content and no, I didn't blank the article, just the parts in dispute that would have cleared the POV tags. Explained several times now. Once you realized that the consensus was that the article simply will not be deleted, you proceeded to blank the article I am still not sure a consensus couldn't be built to get rid of this thing, regardless, you are provably wrong, I had spent hours trying to purge this thing of it's staggering POV which you simply rolled back. How did you get access to administrator tools by the way? Please point me to where I said that disagreement or calls for civility were "whining". You wrote "have used a harsh tone with editors who have contributed nothing but disruption and personal attacks, and they have whined about it on my talk page, but nothing every came of their whining, because nobody took them seriously." "I never said that disagreements are whining, nor did I say that calls for civility are whining." So for instance, was being told on your talk page by another editor that: "your dispute resolution skills could be improved by 1) dropping the sarcasm, 2) dropping the accusations [...] (focus on the content, not the editor)" Whining? You seem to have written it off as such. 'I welcome you to find where I said that other people's editing attempts are personal attacks....... Again, there have been days of rancor spent on this, you have spent previous days of rancor on this very article admitted to "yelling" at other editors for "wasting peoples time". You have a history of getting emotionally invested in this kind of thing on other articles... It's not an illogical conclusion. All of this is accomplishing exactly nothing by the way, is beyond tedious and at this point embarrassing. There has been a compromise solution offered to the impasse, focus on the content, not the editor. V7-sport (talk) 05:42, 30 December 2010 (UTC) I'm still waiting for either (a) direct quotes for the three statements you said I made above, (b) an admission that you lied. Until then, I'm not going to waste my time with you anymore. It's pretty clear that the RFC is going to go as I thought it would, so I'm satisfied there, and I don't think anyone is really taking your lies seriously at this point, so I don't need to keep doing so. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 06:59, 30 December 2010 (UTC) I have addressed your comments in the text above, complete with quotes. I have even gone through the backlog in your talk page to provide quotes from others establishing this kind of behavior is a pattern for you. (One can only imagine the self-esteem issues of a wiki-bully.) Perhaps you should read and understand what has been written instead of petulantly calling me a "liar" because it's something you don't want to address. AGAIN, back to the edits. V7-sport (talk) 21:17, 30 December 2010 (UTC) (OD) At this point, I'm going to boldly collapse this discussion. This is basically two editors arguing off-topic with each other, and it's so long as to obscure conversation on the actual topic. If you guys have problems with each other, I encourage you to file a case somewhere at a relevant noticeboard. Let's get back to discussing the issues.

Re Jehochman

"In my understanding "state terrorism" is a misnomer. States can commit acts of war, genocide, crimes against humanity. Terrorism is committed by non-state actors." The subject in question, the US government, agrees, Ive been trying to preserve this section in order to include that information.V7-sport (talk) 00:43, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Re Lihaas

"paraphrase here and luink to theother article. Perhaps through a small section, or part of the lead with the wikilink given." This could actually be an excellent compromise, we could lose the "definitions" section and include a couple of lines in the lead that would act as a preamble. V7-sport (talk) 01:16, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Compromise attempt

Why don't we lose the definition section, include references in the lead that this is disputed by US law and there is no international consensus on the topic and then link to other discussions on terrorism.V7-sport (talk) 01:16, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Do you have a source talking about U.S. laws/commentary regarding state terrorism? (As in something from a secondary source that actually mentions state terrorism, rather than you merely inferring something about state terrorism from it?) Because I wouldn't have a problem including a sentence about that in the lead if you have it, along with a brief summary of state terrorism. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 07:04, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes. The inclusion of the term "subnational groups" shows that the US government rejects the concept of state terrorism. Indeed, most non-fringe entities tend to call it "war" which is why there is little written to repudiate the definition. "I wouldn't have a problem including a sentence about that in the lead if you have it, along with a brief summary of state terrorism.I wouldn't have a problem including a sentence about that in the lead if you have it," Excellent, I think there should be mention that there is no international consensus on a definition of "state terrorism" as well. "along with a brief summary of state terrorism" Sounds like a definitions section....V7-sport (talk) 21:32, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

A good question is why does this article even exist when the concept of state terrorism is dubious at best. The incidents in question are each covered in their own article, and they are linked from the relevant history articles of the United States. This article is just one giant POV fork that is being used as a garbage barrel for collecting redundant bits of anti-US content. Jehochman ^Talk 21:56, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I agree. However, the last time this nominated for deletion the administrator tossed it out to see if a good faith effort could be made to salvage it. ("I'd be quite tempted to go with "delete and start over,"[...] the best that can be done for now is to hope for improvement.") The fact that effort has thus far has been met with an effective campaign to exclude contrary information might factor in to the next nomination. V7-sport (talk) 22:28, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Besides your original research, what "contrary information" do you feel has been "excluded"? Please provide reliable sources with contrary views. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 02:05, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Jehochman: The reason this article exists is laid out clearly in all 9 of the deletion discussions. The most important of these, is that it easily satisfies WP:NOTABLE due to the abundance of reliable sources which discuss the topic. I'm not even sure why we are even wasting time on discussing deletion anymore -- it's pretty clear that its never going to happen, and pushing for another deletion discussion at this point seems to serve no purpose other than causing disruption which will prevent improvements from being made to the article as everyone rehashes the same arguments from the last 9 discussions. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 01:58, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

V7-sport: So you're saying that all you have is a source that is talking about terrorism, rather than state terrorism, and that you are inferring from it that because their definition of terrorism mentions subnational groups (and not nations) that they don't accept the concept of state terrorism? That's called original research. What I asked is if you had a reliable source talking about the United States' views on state terrorism. If you do it is, of course, worthy of inclusion in state terrorism, and I think it would be reasonable to briefly summarize here. But you need sources that are actually talking about state terrorism or terrorist acts commmitted by the United States government (e.g. definitions of state terrorism made by U.S. government officials, denials by the United States that they commit terrorist acts, denials that they've supported terrorism, their thoughts on state terrorism in general and what to do about it, etc.), otherwise, you're just doing original research (as has been explained to you above already). Anyhow, if you can come up with sources that actually discuss state terrorism, I'd welcome including them in that article, and briefly summarizing them here. However, as several editors have pointed out to you, your original research is simply not going to be included, no matter how many times you tell us how important it is. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 01:58, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

So you're saying that all you have is a source that is talking about terrorism, rather than state terrorism, Are you really going to argue that the definition of "terrorism" is irrelevant to the definition of "state terrorism"? According to the page you wish to link back to "State terrorism refers to acts of terrorism conducted by governments". Since the government that is being accused of terrorism is the USA, the US legal definition of terrorism is relevant.

"and that you are inferring from it that because their definition of terrorism mentions subnational groups (and not nations) that they don't accept the concept of state terrorism?" Well of course this s why you want the "definitions" section removed. Definitions of terrorism that were congruent with your point of view have been up there for years, making their own inferences. A stand alone definition statement of what the USA considers to be terrorism would be perfectly congruent with the section you are now working to get rid of. All this is proving the point made in the last deletion attempt that "The article hasn't been fixed after so much time because it can't be fixed."V7-sport (talk) 19:27,

31 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm not going to rehash the same arguments with you. Please see above. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 19:43, 31 December 2010 (UTC)