One man's terrorist...

The murder of the late abortion doctor George Tiller in the USA touches on a thorny question many of my students have grappled with - was the man who killed him a murderer or a terrorist? Dr Tiller's clinic had previously been bombed and an assassination attempt had already been made on his life. Do we brand those who carried out these acts as terrorists, particularly if they were religious extremists? They would argue they were preventing the deaths of hundreds of babies. There are no easy answers, which is, perhaps, why even the UN still struggles to agree on a clear definition of a terrorist.