More on Terrorism

An interesting summary of an academic analysis of modern terrorism is found here. I found two very good points:

"...the willingness to sacrifice one's life in such a mission is not, in itself, irrational. In fact, suicide attackers are rarely subject to pathological or suicidal motivation."

That's good. It means we can exterminate these guys without any qualms about them being poor victims of mental illness.

"...in practice, the religious legitimacy of suicide now seems to be widely accepted, even if it remains controversial."

Translation: yes, there is something screwed up about Islam.

There were also a couple points I found highly suspect:

"Islam-inspired missions account for only 34.6% of attacks carried out between 1981 and September 2003."

I wonder whether they classify Chechen and Palestinian terrorism as "Islam-inspired" or politically motivated?

"More relevant, he argues, are feelings of inferiority and resentment."

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it sounds like the author is saying that the little darlings just have a self-esteem problem.

I do want to understand more about terrorists, especially if it helps in the task of annihilating them.