First, it was pointed out in my class that to use the word ‘terrorist’ is a desphemism. That’s kind of interesting, considering what the terrorists do and the actual definition of a terrorist.

ter·ror·ist /ˈtɛrərɪst/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ter-er-ist] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. a person, usually a member of a group, who uses or advocates terrorism.
2. a person who terrorizes or frightens others.
3. (formerly) a member of a political group in Russia aiming at the demoralization of the government by terror.
4. an agent or partisan of the revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror in France.
–adjective
5. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of terrorism or terrorists: terrorist tactics.
[Origin: 1785–95; terror + -ist; cf. F terroriste]

American Psychological Association (APA):
terrorist. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved June 04, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/terrorist
Chicago Manual Style (CMS):
terrorist. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/terrorist (accessed: June 04, 2007).
Modern Language Association (MLA):
“terrorist.” Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 04 Jun. 2007. .

Plus, it is what the Qu’ran instructs them to do. Muhammad understood and used terror as God’s distinctives favors upon him, which made him superior to other prophets.

cast terror into their hearts,(59:2)

I have been made victorious with terror,(Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 220)

And they’ve surely been living up to that, as the recently released Al Qaeda torture manual with pictures attest.

Others have mentioned it; it was published at the smoking gun, that I mentioned here, that Michelle Malkin mentioned here - has received scant media coverage or even acknowledgement, in spite of the fact that several people, including a teenage boy, were rescued or freed, who had been viciously tortured by their captors.

See Patrick Poole’s Osama’s House of Horrors which begins with this paragraph:

The same media hacks that brought us countless images of Spc. Lynndie England doing her best John Dillinger imitation with an Iraqi prisoner while covering the Abu Ghraib scandal have suddenly gone mute on the release last week by US military officials of a graphic al-Qaeda torture manual that provides illustrations and instructions on how to use hammers, blow torches and meat cleavers to extract information from their victims in Iraq. This deliberate silence has been occurring as US forces are scouring Iraq looking for two US soldiers who presumably are being subject to the very tortures described in that manual and the body of one of their colleagues was discovered exhibiting signs of that same torture.

What’s worse is the fact that an American soldier turned up dead floating in the Euphrates, which turned out to be that of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. of Torrance, with evidence of torture on his body straight from the manual, and we’re still looking for the others who were kidnapped on May 12 in an ambush on their patrol near Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad. Anzack was a member of the Army’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division; the two that are still missing are Byron Foudy, 19, of Waterford, Mich., and Spec. Alex Jimenez, 25 of Lawrence, Mass. We can only pray that they are not undergoing the same treatment as Anzack did. It’s too bad that the press is more interested in stories of ‘torture’ at the hands of the Americans…from the beeboid’s article entitled “US detainee mentally tortured” courtesy of Poole:

Mr Khan complained about how US guards had taken away pictures of his daughter, given him new glasses with the wrong prescription, shaved his beard off, forcibly fed him when he went on hunger strike, and denied him the opportunity for recreation.

This led him to attempt to chew through his artery twice, Mr Khan said.

Later, Mr Khan produced a list of further examples of psychological torture, which included the provision of “cheap, branded, unscented soap”, the prison newsletter, noisy fans and half-inflated balls in the recreation room that “hardly bounce”.

heh.

And then, of course, there’s how the media has buried the news reports of the plot to blow up JFK that emerged within the past few days.

Picture courtesy of Frontpage Magazine

Killing for Allah at JFK by Robert Spencer

The disparity between the alleged mistreatment of a terrorist whining about scented soap and the terrible reality of eye gouging as a REAL torture technique from the manual is tremendous. The released victims are even more of a testament to the fact that terrorists are following that manual, yet the silence from the media has been deafening. Journalists today serve as tools for the enemy; which the terrorists certainly know how to leverage.

Tim McGirk, for example, had Thanksgiving with the Taliban two months after 9/11 and later cooperated with some questionable sources to ‘bring Haditha to light’.