[extropy-chat] terrorist self-hatred?

[Mike15007 at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/15/2005 11:18:27 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
spike66 at comcast.net writes:

This is  a critically important distinction.  Not only do
terrorists kill  civilians, but in some cases they target
children intentionally.  I  have heard of two cases where
a car bomb was driven into a bunch of kids  who had crowded
around a US marine who was giving away toys and  candy.  So
he managed to slay a US marine, congratulations, enjoy  
your 73 virgins.  In the process they killed 30 or more 
kids, who  were guilty of what?  



In the case of killing enemy civilians, the  rationale given by Osama Bin 
Laden in his "Letter to America" (also given by the  Nazis, who were prolific 
civilian-killers themselves), was that though they may  not pick up guns and 
fight, they pay the taxes which support their nation's  armed forces, thus taking 
them out might hurt the enemy's ability to continue  waging war. Or in the 
case of the Nazis, they maintained that killing enemy  civilians, including 
children, was killing potential future enemy soldiers. Or  people who might produce 
future enemy soldiers in the case of killing women and  girls.
    In the case of killing children and other  non-combatants of the country 
you're trying to save. Different cultures, also  different governments, 
organizations, and individuals, have different ideas  about what constitutes 
acceptable tactical losses.
    Or, revenge and causing pain may really be more  important to them 
technically than expelling the foreigners from their country  or creating justice. 
Defense and justice are different from revenge. But on  some, the distinction 
is lost, or is unimportant.
 
Mike
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