"The word 'terrorist' itself can be a barrier rather than aid to understanding. We should try to avoid the term without attribution. We should let other people characterise while we report the facts as we know them."
That actually sounds pretty sensible to me.
These guys probably weren't part of some organisation that is trying to achieve political goals through acts of terrorism (e.g. like the IRA) - labelling a pair of nutters as "terrorists" really doesn't achieve very much in terms of news reporting or public understanding.
WMD charges don't help either. A pipe-bomb has been considered a WMD for a decade now. The term has been cheapened so much some schools ban the term as useless and carrying almost no information.
That actually sounds pretty sensible to me.
These guys probably weren't part of some organisation that is trying to achieve political goals through acts of terrorism (e.g. like the IRA) - labelling a pair of nutters as "terrorists" really doesn't achieve very much in terms of news reporting or public understanding.