In a message dated 7/3/98 7:05:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time, mark@unicorn.com
writes:
<< Yes, that's right, terrorists are freedom fighters
Funny, I thought that the government just called guerillas whom it liked
freedom fighters. I didn't realize that government-speak actually
<<Most terrorist groups (aside from those who are merely criminal, including the ones run by governments to defame their opponents) see themselves as freedom fighters, regardless of what the rest of the world may think. If you ignore that, you'll never understand why they do what they do.>>
So what? I agree that terrorist organizations are run at the core by "true believers."
<<>And one doesn't have to be
>an "oppressor" to favor the study and elimination of terrorist groups.
Really? If you don't oppress people or support groups who do, then what reason do freedom fighters have to attack you? You, of course, support the US government, one of the most hated and oppressive organisations on the planet, so I'm not surprised you're worried about "terrorists".>>
Terrorists will only attack governments because they are oppressive? Are you joking? Terrorists will attack the most minimal government because it is the most minimal government. They will attack a government most protective of the widest and most strict form of libertarianism precisely because it is so protective of libertarianism. There will be individuals with a fanatical opposition to society regardless of what kind of government that society has. And there will be foreign governments in competition with this government, no matter how closely it embraces your conception of individual rights. So to talk of relying upon the rationality of terrorists strikes me as absurd at best and dangerously myopic at worst.
Andrew