As to your point of blowing up villages - I agree, although I am not
> sure to what extent it is the villages rather than terrorist hideouts
> that are being blown. But inasmuch as it is innocent villagers who
> are being blown - I am all with you on this.
>
Marv linked to a CNN report on this study, which answers the question pretty decisively, but here's the document itself:
I am sorry if I sound too much like the latter-days Hitch (let him
> rest in peace) - but I simply cannot muster any sympathy toward
> religiously inspired terrorism.
Well, now. It's a little ironic for you to mention Hitch in a sentence ending with unironic use of the t-word. During his better years, he had pretty critical things to say about it. (I don't have the article on this computer, but Jim Farmelant will forward it on request.)
It's by no means clear what you mean by it, or even the "religiously inspired" prefix. In my part of the world, certainly the vast majority of people accused of that strongly favor girls' education. There's a whole lot of nuance missing from your rhetoric.
-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."