>>The last paragraph is the one I have been trying to put across: if 500K natives were killed over there, with the minority of those being true combatants, it is no wonder counter-attacks were launched which we define as terrorist.
Agree totally.
>>I do wonder at the small # of reported averted attacks - I am not sure if I missed the boat on the # of potential attackers drilled each year or the intelligence units were able to
Also agreed. One of the most effective counter-terrorist approaches must be that the perpetrators simply disappear without trace or fuss.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1