After all, haven't we always heard one person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter?

Notwithstanding the broadest possible approval, several delegations expressed disappointment.

President Jan Eliasson of the 60th annual General Assembly said that by adopting the strategy to address conditions conducive to terrorism and to prevent and combat it, while respecting human rights, the world body has sent a strong message it was acting in the spirit of the United Nations' Charter to prevent the growing menace.

For the first time it showed the assembly -- made up of all 192 U.N. members -- could take action on one of the most serious threats to security, he said.

The resolution's consensus adoption notwithstanding, a number of countries expressed regret the measure had not included a definition of terrorism or any specific reference to state terrorism, a clear reference to Israel for its targeting of Hamas leaders.

However, it was generally felt the resolution's condemnation of terrorism in all its forms signaled the will of the international community that it would no longer tolerate the actions of the sponsors of terrorism or of those who willfully fail to prevent terrorists from using their territories.

Eliasson, who is also Sweden's foreign minister, urged member states to adopt the draft resolution, saying it was built on a strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, wherever and for whatever purposes, as that constituted one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.

He pointed out it was his and his co-chairs' best attempt to reach a consensus agreement. Every word had been scrutinized, he said. No delegation got all it had wanted. Some wanted more, some less. But the text, in his view, was balanced.

First to explain its position was Syria, often accused of helping Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.

The Damascus envoy reaffirmed his country's firm rejection of all forms and manifestations of terrorism and said it had long called for an international conference to define terrorism and make a distinction between terrorism on the one hand and the right of people to resist foreign occupation on the other.

He complained there was no clear definition of terrorism. That meant, he said, its implementation would be based on the interpretation of various member states.

Cuba's representative said while Havana was not happy the text contained no definition of terrorism, it would provide an incentive to define the strategy in the future.

She said her country joined the consensus as a demonstration of its commitment to defend multilateralism, an obvious dig at unilateral action taken by the United States and its allies in Iraq.

South Africa's representative said while the draft reflected compromises made by member states, the process was not about victors and losers, but rather about developing a coherent global counter-terrorism strategy.

Venezuela said the resolution did not specifically mention the violent acts of some states seeking to guarantee the submission of other peoples, saying that meant it left state terrorism in an "ambiguous terrain."

He also had reservations about the issue of good governance, because that term had no precise definition and always left doubt in his mind.

Pakistan said among the positive aspects was the section on conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism. The conceptualization and development of the root causes of terrorism would help to eliminate the motivation for terrorist acts.

Islamabad's envoy said while the list of such conditions was not exhaustive, the measure had at least acknowledged that prolonged unresolved conflicts were a root cause of terrorism, many of which arose from foreign occupation and the denial of the right of a people to self-determination.

Iran's representative said Tehran had joined the consensus despite its many reservations to the text, as a demonstration of its support in the fight against terrorism.

The Islamic Republic also has repeatedly been accused of helping Hezbollah, an organization regarded by a number of countries as a terrorist outfit.

The envoy also said the resolution failed to refer to state terrorism, whose upsurge had been on display in the past few months among the Palestinians and in Lebanon.

Unilateral military policies that gave rise to terrorism had been overlooked in the text, and foreign occupation had also been omitted, said the Iranian, pointing to Iraq and Afghanistan.

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