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I think that there is a qualitative distinction between doing it for nationalistic reasons v. religious reasons.
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I don't know how useful the distinction is between "nationalistic reasons" and "religious reasons"....in some nations the people overwhelmingly believe that the sharia ought to be the highest law of the land....are martydom operations in support of sharia done for nationalisic or religious reasons in that case????
and jap kamikazes, for instance, held a nigh-on religious view of their nation and emporer -- were their bombings motivated by patriotism or religion?
i don't know, frankly....this is why I say "it's tough to hit an abstraction with a bullet"....i don't care whether group x is motivated by nation or religion, i care whether they are a threat to the us or not...
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Probably what's most important to think about (and why I'm all for lumping the film critic in with the militant, terrorist muslims) is will the suicide bombing stop if the army were to remove itself from some given territory? It's a step, then to "now get your army out of what used to be your own country."
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I think suicide bombings are a lousy choice of weapons for offensive purposes....
i believe the strength of suicide bombings is that it horrifies the shiite out of people, so that those who have a choice to get up and leave get up and leave...eventually. folks who are already home may be more horrified by the thought of leaving their homes than of living with exploding sunnis....
that and suicide bombers make lousy occupying forces and rarely re-enlist for second tours of duty.
cheers