Actually, there is a point at which they do.

Submitted by Michael D. Houst (United States), Jun 19, 2015 at 19:10

The American Revolution was started by criminal gangs.

The Mafia constitutes a shadow government. Whether they hold their position of power at the will of the general Italian populance is up for debate. If they had a reason to attack NATO troops on Italian soil, especially if NATO were there conducting actions that were detrimental to the Italian people as a whole, or the Mafia in particular, then yes, they would not be terrorists.

ISIS is beyond being criminals and terrorists. They constitute an army in the Levant, run by warlords united in ideology. They are just as merciless as Ghengis Khan, or the Nazi's; but they are the de facto rulers of the lands they hold control over, regardless of "legality."

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".