Negotiating with terrorists

CNN ran one of their cute little non-scientific polls today, asking if there could ever be circumstances permitting negotiations with terrorists. Of course, nearly everyone participating in such a poll will answer no. Good thing CNN won't poll the United States military.

Consider, for example, the negotiations which led to ceasefires in Iraq. Under the current rules of permissible public discourse, all insurrection is categorized as "terrorism." (In this, we are following the Israeli model of propaganda.) You can't have it both ways: Either the rebels are not terrorists, or the U.S. military has, in fact, recently negotiated with terrorists.