Hours after the congressional storming on the sixth of last month, President-elect Joe Biden spoke to the American nation, describing the intruders as “riot mobs, insurgents, and local terrorists.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the intruders as “rioters”, “rebels” and “terrorists” ".

After nearly a month, opinion has not settled in Washington on the description of those who carried out this unprecedented attack on the symbol of American democracy, which resulted in the death of 5 people.

Thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the Congress building, in an attempt to block the approval of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate on the results of the presidential elections that took place last November.

The lack of agreement within America on the description of congressional intruders is due to the absence of a comprehensive and comprehensive definition of terrorist practices, in addition to widespread contradictions between the views of politicians and legal experts regarding calling the description of terrorists to congressional intruders.

Some observers believe that, without a clear definition of the nature of the concept and the charge of terrorism, there will remain a legal gap that impedes the prosecution of these intruders.

Various definitions

There is no precise definition of the term terrorism that American experts, politicians, and legal professionals agree upon. During the past decades, the term terrorism has been used in a selective way that serves the US foreign policy agenda. The use of the term has multiplied after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and terrorism has often been linked to “Islamic extremism” .

Experts agree that terrorist acts include 3 points that they dealt with legally, the first of which is the terrorist act as a tactic, a legal term, and a political designation. This complicates the general agreement on the concept of terrorism, which makes it a source of controversy.

The United States Federal Law of Regulations defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment of them, in furtherance of political or social objectives” (Article 28 of the Penal Code and Regulations 0-85) .

US federal laws indicate that “domestic terrorism” means activities that:

Involves dangerous to human life that violates federal or state laws.


Activities aimed at intimidating or spreading terror through assassination and kidnapping in order to influence government behavior.

As for the Pentagon, it defines terrorism according to the amendment of military regulations in November 2010 as “the unlawful use of violence or threats of violence to instill fear and coercion on governments or societies. Religious, political and ideological beliefs are often the motivation behind terrorism. To achieve usually political goals. "

The Pentagon definition distinguishes between the motives of terrorism (religion, ideology, etc.) and the aims of terrorism (usually political).

As for the FBI, it defines domestic terrorism as "violent and criminal acts committed by individuals or groups to achieve ideological goals stemming from local influences, such as those of a political, religious or economic nature."

Intruders are terrorists

Republican Representative in the House of Representatives Nancy Maas tweeted after the storming of the Capitol (Congress), demanding that whoever led the storming be described as local terrorists.

"The people who assaulted the policemen during the storming of the Capitol, who wanted to take members of Congress hostage, they were not patriots, they were local terrorists. We must stop pampering the extremists, and rebuild our party as the one that respects the rule of law, not the covered violence." With the American flag. "

The people who assaulted police officers to break into the Capitol and hold Congress hostage weren't patriots.

They were domestic terrorists.

We must stop coddling extremists and rebuild our party as the party that respects rule of law, not violence wrapped in the American flag.

pic.twitter.com/rmRwL9KrdI

- Rep.

Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) January 10, 2021

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser described the attack on the Capitol as "terrorism, as it says in the books"

Here is DC Mayor Muriel Bowser saying, "What happened yesterday is textbook terrorism."

And even provides a definition… pic.twitter.com / HkGa6RdvED

- Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) January 7, 2021

"Terrorism is the most accurate description of what we saw that day," said Milena Abdullah, a professor of African studies at California State University, adding, "What they are trying to do is terror, and get a political reaction out of fear."

She adds that using the term terrorism to describe what the white supremacists do helps to understand and expose their threats to the state, and points out that the description of terrorism has been used against African Americans and Muslims in many cases, and she was surprised that what was applied to other groups when it came to Americans was not applied. eggs.

Jessica Stern, a professor at Boston University, believes that the congressional storming applies to the term terrorism (it), "which involved acts of violence, or threats of violence, to achieve political, economic, social or religious goals, with the aim of delivering a message to a larger audience beyond the direct victims."

Counter opinions

On the other hand, a number of legal experts considered that classifying the act of storming the Congress as a terrorist act “leads to a softening of procedural controls to enable law enforcement agencies to arrest the accused and refer them to the judiciary on less stringent conditions,” according to a legal expert who preferred not to mention her identity and position.

The legal expert says, "A description of what happened with terrorism weakens the legal protection available to the accused compared to any other description, and leads to the absence of guarantees in criminal proceedings."

Nicholas Grossman, a terrorism expert at the University of Illinois, refuses to describe what happened during the storming of Congress events as terrorism, and tweeted, "I think the best word for yesterday's events in the Capitol is rebellion or sedition, and it can also be said that it is a riot. I will not say that it is terrorism, although it is." It is possible that some of the terrorists used these riots to cover up their actions. "

I think the best word for yesterday's events at the Capitol is “insurrection” (h / t @smsaideman).

“Sedition” fits too, as does “riot.”


I wouldn't say “terrorism,” though it's possible some terrorists used the riot for cover and were thwarted (officials moved, bombs caught).


1/2

- Nicholas Grossman (@ NGrossman81) January 7, 2021

In an article published in the Washington Post, Dalia Shams and Tariq Ismail, two experts in US criminal law, expressed their fear of speeding up the description of what happened on the sixth of last month as a "terrorist act."

The two writers considered that it must be reminded that "terrorism as a legal construct inseparable from the legacy of American discrimination and racism, and laws have been used to target Muslim organizations, black American organizations, and other marginalized groups for decades. State agencies will monopolize the translation of laws, and may be used to suppress the most vulnerable groups later." ".

The article stated that giving a description of terrorism to what happened in Congress only reduces the ability to talk about the root causes of what happened, and ends the intense debate about its causes, "and will not help raise the most important question: How did we get to this point?"