Quote Originally Posted by SteveMetz View Post
I think you're on to an important point. Our traditional or "classical" way of thinking about counterinsurgency imputed a means/ends, politically-focused rationality to the insurgents. But what if what they want is not attainment of some political endstate, but simply to participate in conflict? In other words, the conflict is about psychic fulfillment for them, not political objectives. I think that undercuts much of our understanding of the phenomenon--and our doctrine.
John Robb would also argue that a permanently "hollowed out" state is the goal of terrorists and criminal entrepeneurs, and of broader movements like Hezbollah.