ABSTRACT
Any refocusing of military resources and attention on “Fourth Generation Warfare” would imply that terrorists and insurgents are fit targets for US military action. They are not. Terrorists never win, and often hardly try to do so: they are venting emotions, they seek satisfaction in being seen to inflict suffering on others. All they do is to increase the cohesion of those they attack to warlike levels – without inflicting war-like levels of damage. War and revolution – mass action – or the leveraged power of coups can achieve external or internal victories. Terrorism never – the damage it inflicts is a loss for the victims, not a gain for the perpetrators.
