Iraq Press Roundup

The Kurdish Al Itihad Newspaper carried an editorial Monday with the headline: "Why is there no global agreement on the concept of terrorism?"

It said most researchers agree the world "hasn't reached yet a legal definition for the concept of the word 'terrorism.'”

"When we investigate the concept of the word terrorism academically, we realize there are various definitions for it; some call an incident a 'terror action' when it is only a violent action. Some others call it a terror action when a political crime occurs. And others call resistance terrorism even though it is legal according to the international law," the paper said.

The paper said the Arab League Accord to Fight Terrorism of 1998 defined terrorism as "any violent or threatening action that occurs according to an individual or a group’s criminal project, and aims to terrify people, or damage individual or public properties, or occupy them, or endanger any national resource."

"No doubt, if you read the above definition, you will find that it is a political text that lacks legality, taking in consideration that international law distinguishes between terrorism and violent actions, between terror and horror, and between terror and occupation," the editorial said.

The paper commented that after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the unipolar world, “the concept of terror became subject to U.S. political desire."

"A need for a unified legal definition of the word 'terrorism' became important," Al Itihad said, “but the U.S. continues to define it politically."

The paper said terrorism had become an international action that could be used, not only by individual or groups, but by countries.

"Thus the diversity of people defining the term and the people who practice it are the main obstacles for determining a unified legal definition of the word terrorism,” the editorial said.

"An Islamist … aim of defining the word terrorism differs from somebody who wants their country to be internationally recognized as independent," the paper said.

Iraqi Hezbollah’s Al Baina newspaper asked in an editorial: "Who is behind disfiguring Islam’s image around the world?"

It said there are Islamic organizations inside the United States that have carried out protests in front of the Saudi Embassy in Washington, calling for Saudi Arabia, the country that adopts a "terrorism mentality," to stop its calls, which have been "the reason behind the bad reputation Islam has in the eyes of the entire world."

"Such protests, especially in such countries, raise again the issue of financial and moral support for the terror groups, which took from the word Islam a cover to carry out their shameful crimes against the innocent around the world," the paper said.

The editorial said whenever one hears about an explosion in a Western country or a trial against a terrorist group in another country, "it might give Islam a negative reputation; a religion that is a symbol of humanity, tolerance and love."