Re: Israel pushing for Kurdish state? -

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

me: 
> The terrorist "theory" is that by blowing things up,  the powers
> that be will crack down and alienate the population, so that
> the population will join the insurgent movement. Specifically
> in Iraq, it's supposed to show that the US hasn't  brought order
> to the country. The hope is that the people will  blame the US
> for the killings.

Chris D:
Wouldn't the most logical reaction be to hate both
parties involved? 

----
The theory behind individual (or "retail") terrorism isn't especially logical. It's a sign of political/military weakness and often, it seems, intellectual weakness. (I don't know about the Iraqis, but I'm thinking of such people as the Symbionese Liberation Front.) 

By the way, though I support the Iraqi right to resist the US occupation, I don't think that a strategy that involves killing civilians (= terrorism) is the way to go, even from an Iraqi point of view.

State (or "wholesale") terrorism is a bit more logical: you've got the bombers and lots of bombs and you can simply terrorize the population to obey. Might makes "right," in practice (though not in ethical terms). Of course, it didn't work out that well for the US in Iraq. 

Jim Devine