Nelson Mandela is Not a Terrorist

Nobel Peace Prize winner needs to be removed from terror list

In a not-so-shocking recent revelation, it's been discovered that former South African President Nelson Mandela is still on a list of those considered to be potential terrorists by the US government.

And the US Congress is only now debating legislation that would force his removal from that list.

Of course, the United States aren't the only ones who have experienced telling terrorists and legitimate freedom fighters apart. Perpetually fresh in the memories of many Canadians are the terminally stupid remarks of Conservative MP Rob Anders who, as a then-Canadian Alliance MP, called Mandela a "Communist and a terrorist."

"He's the politically correct kind of 'lib' left poster-boy of today," Anders would later add. "I would say that 30 years from now Nelson Mandela will not be lionized as much as he is today."

It was a stupid (as then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien generously described the remark) notion then, and it's still stupid now.

Only in this day and age could Nelson Mandela, who successfully managed to force the abolition of South African apartheid, share a space on a list with Osama Bin Laden.

Hopefully, that will change within the next 30 hours -- not merely the next 30 years.