Thats a really interesting question and TBH who knows? But I often ask myself, is that much different to any government?
I have read alot about the troubles over the years and whats becomes clear about them as a terrorist organisation is that they certainly had a cause and it was deeply rooted in what they felt was the oppression of their own, in fact I would say their members fought for a cause, knowing the cause and took to choice to do so based on beliefs that had the interests of the people close to their hearts. Not defending it but you compare that to a soldier who signs up to be sent anywhere in the world to fight a cause they know little or nothing about because they took an oath, then you put your trust in a leader and hope they have the best interests of the country at heart, can we honestly say that's also the case given the worlds history over the last 100 years? I'm not sure we can 100%. You could certainly point towards governments committing more war crimes than terrorists over that time under what seems to be all forgiving umbrella of "war"
You can also argue that terrorists take crude and extreme measures because the only thing that sets them apart from an army is the infrastructure/organisation and size. Again that's not to defend their actions but I think there needs to be more open minded that they indeed do have a cause and there is maybe reason behind their actions. The problem in accepting that you have to then accept that there might be questions to be answered on why they exist as an organisation, I would think its naïve to think any terrorist organisation exist just to exist. Going back to the troubles as an example its becomes difficult for people to accept, given the bombs going off up and down the country that in fact, we might have had questions to answer about our treatment of the Irish not the other way round.
@spurspinter1 example of Vietnam was really interesting for me for that reason, where is the line between war/terrorism and are governments always right and terrorists wrong based on classification alone? I don't think its a simple question to answer.
I know I have gone off on a tangent from your original point I just find the whole subject thought provoking and just to be clear, this is not me defending any terrorism, lets be clear.