Can military groups be terrorists?

Can military groups be terrorists?

Erroll Southers (Former Deputy Director of the California Department of Homeland Security) gives expert video advice on: What are the most common misconceptions people have about terrorism?; What do people try to gain through terrorism?; Who is most likely to commit an act of terrorism? and more...

I like to say that it's the act. So if you have a military group that carries out violence in furtherance of a political cause against civilians, they are actually committing an act of terror. However, you could go further and say what you have at that point is perhaps a war crime, a gross crime against humanity. Them carrying out the group could make them terrorists, but if the act is carried out against them, then it's sort of a state of war. When you have military personnel that are victimized by an act of terrorism, you really have a state of war. Which is why it is so interesting that, for example, in Iraq we talk about a terrorist act in Iraq. When it is committed against our troops, that to me is not an act of terrorism. That is an act of war. When they go after civilians specifically in Iraq, that to me is an act of terrorism. So to answer your question, military groups can engage in terrorism, yes. Years ago when Nelson Mandela was part of the African National Congress, what he did then would by all definition today, although we all admire Mandela for what happened in the end, they carried out acts of terrorism to achieve their balance and their goal.