From FPRI, dated 30 Mar 06: Recapturing the Essentials of Counterinsurgency
In recent years, a lamentable tendency has arisen, among persons who should know better, to use the terms “terrorist” and “guerrilla” as if they were synonyms. This is a serious confusion that may well lead to policy errors and thus cost American lives. In this essay, the term “guerrillas” refers to those who, whatever else they may do, fight against ostensibly more powerful armed forces by making unexpected attacks against vulnerable military targets, and who are sustained, in the ideal case, by popular support, high morale, good intelligence, secure bases, and foreign assistance...