My position tends to run a little away from that, as you might be able to tell from some of my earlier posts on this thread....
I lean more toward result as opposed to intent. Many terrorist groups either spin off from existing insurgencies or piggyback existing groups. They may announce that their "intent" is to strike a blow against the oppressive government, but instead of killing a policeman they blow up a school. Granted, that's an extreme example, but it ties closer to my main theory about terrorist groups. Over time (some sooner than later) they become more obsessed with "results" in terms of spectacular damage or body counts and less concerned with real goals or political objectives. This was the basis of the question I posed earlier that went unanswered by someone who has managed to get themselves in a position where they cannot answer....
The other reason I think it's important to be able to distinguish between the two (legal considerations aside) is that they require different tactics. Blurring or mistaking the two can have potentially catastrophic COIN repercussions, IMO.
Bookmarks