Islamist insurgent warlords for dummies

Rob takes on a ride through the 21st century dictionary for confused journalists dumped into Middle eastern lexical hell. Don’t know your insurgents form your islamists? Your war lords from your al Qaeda operatives? You soon will with Rob’s handy tip sheet.
And while we’re on the topic… Just when did the term insurgent become part of the lexicon? Since the start of the Afghanistan war after 911? Or did the old freedom fighter/terrorist disagreements tax the media too much before then? Some cluess from the interthoughtnet,
First up from Wisegeek we have this,

Americans who fought in the Revolutionary War for the US were insurgents. However, US textbooks tend not to refer to these individuals as insurgents. Instead they may be called patriots or rebels. However, their act of defying the laws of the British monarchy constitutes insurgency. Currently the US defines people rebelling against the newly established government of Iraq as insurgents. However, these people do not define themselves as such. link

Next, in amid the discussion on Yahoo Answers we have this,

an insurgent is a word the media uses to describe the terrorists in Iraq and the Middle East they don’t actually say people because hey we might realize we’re killing people over there think about all the soldier deaths you hear about now we have more guns and firepower so if those many U.S. soldiers are dying think about how many “insurgents” are dying. link