[quote=Veritas]definition of terrorist attack
a surprise attack involving the deliberate use of violence against civilians in the hope of attaining political or religious aims.
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

[/quote]

And this. Interesting. So that would make it a terrorist attack when the guy flew his small plane into the IRS office in Texas a few years back. But I never heard it called a terrorist attack.

And the attack on the USS Cole 12 years ago? Despite the fact that it was widely described as a terrorist attack, it was not.