I have always felt that the word terrorism as it is currently used is a misnomer. Terror has always been a tool of the governing class, used to beat their opponents and their own citizenry into submission. Terror, or the application of terror in this context is nothing new. For example, when armies in the middle-ages would put entire villiages to the torch and slaughter entire populations, the terror of the people was at least a hoped for by-product.

I think a distinction needs to be made between the tactics of our current enemies and their desire to breed terror. Just a different means to reach the same end. In the past it was called "guerilla" tactics, which denoted a movement of a far-inferior group (in terms of weaponry, finances, support, etc) fought a non-conventional campaign against a superior foe, ie: Ireland, The American Revolution, etc.