"Can Terrorism Be Justified?" With a question like this, it is truly left to one's perspective. The American Government is a large terrorist organization. Most notably, the bombing of civilian inhabited areas of Hiroshima. We have fire bombed German cities regularly, and first chance we got, we bomb Tokyo in retaliation of their attacking our military facilities in Hawaii. If anyone threatens our beliefs, we flex our muscles and react.
Ask a terrorist if a bombing is justified and they will label it as a necessary act in their struggle for their belief. Ask a victim if a bombing is justified and they will label it as a terrorist act conducted by cowards. It is all perspective.
Still the original question is very tough. I would say terrorism is never justified, however if you are fighting oppression inside your own borders,... is it really terrorism?
Too many examples on both side to list, but I would say targeting civilians for little or no gain, just to strike terror or gain, notoriety only cannot be justified whatsoever.
Cabinet Terrorism Drill
Terrorism Timeline
my terrorism suspicion slipTo many terrorist groups do just this. One man terrorist is another mans freedom fighter, the justification comes down to who is looking at the event. It is unfortunate that terrorism targets civilian populations, but civilian populations are a legitimate target when trying to change a government policy.
In conclusion, terrorism is just that, striking fear into civilian population, a intimidation tactic aimed at civilians to make a government change something. This is not justified to me. If you want to make the government change, attack military assets. Attacking civilians proves your cowardice, and in the end detrimental to your cause.