Insurgent Alliance

I've been noticing recently the word insurgent is being used a lot more often than in the past. Insurgent means rebel, they are synonyms. Why would the media start using the word insurgent instead of rebel? Hmm, is the populace becoming insistent that the media increase its vocabulary? Highly doubtful. Are we bored of hearing about rebels? Nah. I think that reason is that the word rebel has become sympathetic to us. Especially those of us in our thirties. Star Wars has conditioned us to see rebels as not so bad really. Whether or not it is a right wing plot to prevent any sympathy for the insurgents, I don't know. What I do know is if I saw GW on my TV saying how we had to eliminate the rebels I would instantly associate him with Darth Vader.