Terrorism can be defined as 'the use of force, violence, coercion or the threat of violence for political ends'. In this sense, individuals, groups of people or indeed states can be potential terrorists. Using the definition above, the US historically, is the number one terrorist state on earth. However, those in power from a position of strength who frame the international order effectively decide who the terrorists are. So the terrorists are in reality the result of a structure of uneven global power relations as defined by the 'international community' (code for the 5 permanenant members of the UN Security Council). Peter Ustinov put it like this: "War is the terrorism of the rich and powerful, and terrorism is the war of the poor and powerless". In this way, the US and its client state Israel for example, can never be considered to be terrorists - its a taboo - wheras those on the receiving end of terrorist actions under the guise of 'war', are deemed to be the actual terrorists. Hence, Hamas is deemed to terrorize the state of Israel etc etc