egafd.com

"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."

Always been the way and some governments think it's ok to use state terrorism too. As for the two that were nicked on their return, the law is framed so that they can be nicked. The government's argument is that prevention is better than cure. The government believe these two may have been radicalised and may turn their attention to causing terrorist acts here.

Correct me if I am wrong but I thought Orwell was an Old Etonian...hardly a working class oik...

George Orwell did indeed go to School.

See my easy to understand and perfectly sensible conclusion above:

A freedom fighter fights a cause with a distinct, armed, oppressive enemy.

A terrorist kills unarmed, innocent people indiscriminately to 'terrorise' a population into pressuring a perceived armed, oppressive enemy.

So, if you and David Johnson, enraged by the completely illegal bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, went out and targeted NATO personal, blowing up NATO bases and assassinating NATO generals, I might be persuaded to call you freedom fighters.

If, in that same cause, you went through Europe bombing civilians in cafes, nightclubs and at bus stops, I'd call you terrorists.

Do you think my judgements are fair?

"Do you think my judgements are fair?"

No. Simplistic? Yes.

"If, in that same cause, you went through Europe bombing civilians in cafes, nightclubs and at bus stops, I'd call you terrorists."

I'd prefer to call myself a freedom fighter for Operation European freedom and as for the civilians bombed to bits, collateral damage always happens in wartime no matter how careful we are.

"See my easy to understand and perfectly sensible conclusion above:"

And unbelievably simplistic.

"A freedom fighter fights a cause with a distinct, armed, oppressive enemy."

I guess like the British Army in the D Day landing giving their lives to defeat an armed, oppressive enemy, Hitler and his fascists.

" A terrorist kills unarmed, innocent people indiscriminately to 'terrorise' a population into pressuring a perceived armed, oppressive enemy."

Like the bombing of Dresden in World War II where the resulting firestorm killed 25,000.

So the Allies were both terrorists and freedom fighters. View the Iraq war through the prism of Blair and Bush lies and you will end up as confused as you are. 2013, British government military action against Syria is perceived as freedom fighting on behalf of the Syrian rebels. 2013 the British government perceive British citizens fighting on behalf of the Syrian rebels as terrorists and can be jailed for the crime.

Your posts over the years have typically suggested to me that you have never grasped how complex life actually is.

A long departed relative of mine was on the Dresden raids and was scarred for life by the wanton loss of civilians.

A truly horrific event. This from someone who survived the dropping of hundreds of tons of high explosives and incendiaries on the city.

"We saw terrible things: cremated adults shrunk to the size of small children, pieces of arms and legs, dead people, whole families burnt to death, burning people ran to and fro, burnt coaches filled with civilian refugees, dead rescuers and soldiers, many were calling and looking for their children and families, and fire everywhere, everywhere fire, and all the time the hot wind of the firestorm threw people back into the burning houses they were trying to escape from."

Johnson doing his utmost to surreptitiously justify the purposeful murder of innocent civilians.

Wow.

Jihadi Johnson.

David - you and I and all the others on this site are basically good folk - we all
believe in due process of law, of being innocent until proved guilty, of a sense
of Western justice and fair play. But I cannot really think you are either so
na?ve or just plain mad as to think two admitted jihadists (hopefully without
their AK 47s) can step off a plane as British citizens on their return and be
allowed to resume their lives as if nothing ever happened ?

I appreciate the dig at Cameron in your piece but then the man is a prat
anyway. And Essex Lad`s point that guys returning from the Spanish Civil
War - and lets add here that there were young Brits who went to support
Franco as well as the socialists - is a good one; they did not threaten our lives
with bombs and killings on return.

I have read in the Press that it was the families of the returning jihadists who
alerted the police ? If so it seems to reduce your argument, I would have
thought.

It is highly likely some returnees from Syria will slip through the net as the
Brit Border Service seems a shambles these days. That said a bomb may well
go off at some point, innocents may die. Please, David, if that happens, try
to be less smug....