"A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism," Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters Sunday, vowing that authorities will catch whoever is responsible.
The thing about terrorism is that it is defined by two things:
- Targeting (civilian non-combatants as opposed to government military or police forces); and
- Intent (to terrorize the populace so as to pressure "their" government to change its policies)
If a car bomb takes out the head of the Genovese crime family, no, it's not terrorism.
If someone firebombs a bar that he got kicked out of to get revenge on the owner, no, it's not terrorism.
Was the Chelsea bombing terrorism? Probably. There were multiple devices, apparently set up location-wise, etc. so as to inflict casualties on random passersby. But not just because it was a bomb exploding in New York.
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