True, but the US sees "legitimate" as meaning the same thing as "legal," and as we determine what is legal or illegal, then there is no risk that our actions are ever "illegitimate." Pretty convenient, not sure if anyone else buys it, but we seem to think they do.

Reality is that organizations of every ilk tend to employ "terrorism" when they feel it meets their ends. Certainly all state parties in WWII employed terrorism on a massive scale. The US Air Force is largely dedicated to the delivery of state-sanctioned terror onto others (but only in legitimate ways..).

It is indeed a fine line. All the more reason to back away from our obsession on the tactic of terror, and to become more focused on the issues behind the organizations that resort to it. Mitigate the organizations in a supporting effort, but make the main effort one of working to understand and resolve the underlying provocations. This also means we'll have to stop blaming convenient foils, such as religious, cultural, ethnic and ideological differences.

Easier to just focus on tactics and attempt the defeat of those who employ certain tactics. Attack the symptoms, ignore the causes.