美国国家公共电台 NPR What Is, And Isn't, Considered Domestic Terrorism

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

The investigation¹ into the Las Vegas shooting is in the early stages, and already there's a debate over whether to call this crime an act of domestic terrorism. We're going to take a moment now to look at what is and isn't defined as terrorism. NPR national security correspondent Greg Myre is here. Hiya.

GREG MYRE, BYLINE²: Hey, Robert.

SIEGEL: First, who's calling what happened in Las Vegas domestic terrorism, and who isn't?

MYRE: Well, the president - he called it an act of pure evil. Law enforcement in the Las Vegas area - they say they still don't know the motive³ behind the attack. However, there are some members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats⁴, including the Democratic National Committee, who have tweeted out and said that this is terror or domestic terrorism.

SIEGEL: And what accounts for the difference?

MYRE: Well, you know, terrorism is not about the level of violence or how many people are killed. It's the motivation. And so far, we don't know what the shooter, Stephen Paddock, had in mind, whether this was personal or political. That's still under investigation. But then there's this very important distinction when we get to federal law because terrorism is defined as acting⁵ on the behalf of a foreign terror group.

Now, the State Department has a list of about 60 groups, many of them well-known - the Islamic State, al-Qaida. However, there's no actual criminal charge in the U.S. for domestic terrorism. So if you're acting alone or even on behalf of a U.S. group, it's not really considered terrorism.

SIEGEL: So there's no formal criminal charge for that. But doesn't it instill terror in people just the same?

MYRE: Oh, absolutely. We've been talking about exactly the same act, but it just - it depends whether or not you're acting on behalf of a illegal, foreign terror group. And in fact this is really the third case in the past several months where we've had a white male involved in a case where this debate has come up about domestic terrorism. There was Charlottesville back in August where the white nationalists were rallying and a suspect allegedly - he drove a car and killed a woman. But he's been charged with murder, not terrorism.

In Alexandria, we had the shooting at the congressional Republicans practicing baseball. The attacker was killed there. We could go back and back all the way back to Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people with a bomb. It was not - he was not charged with terrorism.

SIEGEL: Is this mere⁶ semantics? Or why does it matter what we call it?

MYRE: Well, a lot of prosecutors⁷ and law enforcement people say it doesn't really matter. They say they have plenty of tools, whether it's murder charges or hate crimes or something like that, where they can do what they need to do. Now, the Patriot⁸ Act does actually define domestic terrorism, and this does give prosecutors expanded powers to carry out investigations⁹. But again, there's no criminal charge that goes with it.

And there are some who say we are overlooking the threat of domestic terror because of the focus on foreign Islamic groups. But there's not really a big push to get a domestic terrorism charge, and a lot of people say this would put the government in the position of defining ideology¹⁰ and religion and defining certain groups that are not considered legitimate¹¹.

SIEGEL: And that could run up against problems with the First Amendment¹².

MYRE: Absolutely.

SIEGEL: That's NPR's Greg Myre. Thanks.

MYRE: Thank you.

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

4 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

7 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

8 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

9 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

10 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

11 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

12 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。