Does terrorism work?

L. Dean Webb, also writing in Sobaka, suggests terrorism works. Different notions of history perhaps....

Terrorism is a terrible thing if you're on the receiving end, but those on the giving end have to look at the recent Gaza pullout and see some value in what they do. The Israelis didn't pull out because of massive nonviolent protests. They pulled out because they lacked the will to completely destroy the indigenous Arabs who refused to accept occupation. The Palestinians fought back with terror, like Hizbollah in Lebanon, and sent the Israelis packing. It's a long-term strategy, to be sure, but assymmetric warfare works, and it's here to stay as a primary methodology for any group that can't afford to field a conventional army. Global terrorism is merely the next logical step: take a whack at whoever supports the local baddies and they might cut aid to avoid future pain.

Robert McNamara said it was important to empathize with one's enemies to understand their motives and to know what extent they were willing to fight for their goals. He learned this after meeting with his Vietnamese counterparts decades after he was Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War. They weren't the next domino to fall in Asia. They were finishing off a thousand-year struggle for independence, and used whatever ideology helped them obtain that independence.

If radical Islam is what it'll take to depose corrupt regimes and send foreign armies home, that's what the terrorists of the Middle East and South Asia will use. If not, they'll try something else, but the terrorism will continue, be it pan-Arab, pan-Muslim, or pan-something else. The goal isn't a toppling of Western ideals, it's a desire for independence.