[But the stakes are rather different from those on the Grand Holy Land Pleasure Excursion.] It would be a folly, ... were it not so dangerous. |
From Lebanon to Israel, to Sri Lanka, to Kashmir, to Chechnya -- every suicide terrorist campaign since 1980 had as its main goal to establish or maintain self-determination for territory that the terrorists prize. Religion is rarely the root cause although religion is often used as a tool by terrorist organizations to serve the broader strategic objective. |
However, this presumed connection between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism is misleading and maybe encouraging domestic and foreign policies that are likely to worsen America's situation. |
I don't want to give a sense of false security, ... but right now we're doing pretty well. |
is driven by the presence of foreign forces on the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland. The [American ] operation in Iraq has stimulated suicide terrorism and has given suicide terrorism a new lease on life. |
Since suicide terrorism is mainly a response to foreign occupation and not Islamic fundamentalism, the use of heavy military force to transform Muslim societies over there, if you would, is only likely to increase the number of suicide terrorists coming at us... Suicide terrorism is not a supply-limited phenomenon where there are just a few hundred around the world willing to do it because they are religious fanatics. It is a demand-driven phenomenon. |
Suicide terrorist groups are [not] religious cults isolated from the rest of their society, ... Rather, suicide terrorist organizations often command broad social support within the national communities from which they recruit, because they are seen as pursuing legitimate nationalist goals, especially liberation from foreign occupation. |
The longer the suicide campaign in Iraq goes on, the more at risk we are it will come to our shores, |
you could not have done it better than Hughes. |