[Fegasderty]

I have to link this to this excellent article that is a real eye opener:


thanks Mediocrates!
http://www.israelforum.com/board/sho...&threadid=5474
original source:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/416810.html
excerpt:

"Suicide strikes, Shai argues, represent a post-modern form of terror. They differ from modern warfare in several respects. Perhaps the most conspicuous difference relates to the objective. In modern warfare, antagonists on both sides of the conflict have an identical purpose - to attain prosperity and happiness in this world. In post-modern conflict, the aggressor side lacks an interest in victory. In many cases, the objective is the struggle itself - the goal is to sow destruction, despair and fear, while enduring enormous pain and sacrifice, which guarantee bliss in the next world. Such wars cannot conclude with anything other than the destruction of the enemy, says Shai. The suicide terrorist phenomenon, he adds, leads to the erosion of the values of civil society. It breeds escapism, and the cheapening of human life.

Shai says these conclusions have yet to be learned by Western society.

Shai: "Western society didn't grasp soon enough that it is facing an enemy that goes into battle in the expectation that it will not come out alive. This is a new situation." "