Posted by
Dawnsblood on Thursday, September 28, 2006 5:52:13 PM
Slate puts together a useful
primer for the subject. Everything seem right on except the 'Legal Opinion' section on each tactic alot of which seems overblown.
H/T
AllahpunditUpdate: Mr Den Beste
explained a while back. I find this to be interesting:
Mutilation is an extreme case, of course, but it can be effective too. Here's a good example:
During the mid-1980's, multiple US citizens were taken hostage in
Lebanon by Hezbollah, a terrorist group which received support from
Iran and Syria. During this period, three Soviet citizens were taken
hostage by Hezbollah for a period of one week. The reason why the
Soviet hostages were released promptly was due to a single KGB
operation. Within several days of the kidnappings, the KGB seized a
leader of the Hezbollah, castrated him, stuffed his testicles into his
mouth, shot him in the head and left his corpse at a Hezbollah base
with an ominous note that if the hostages were not released immediately
more of the same would occur. Although the method by which the KGB
carried out the assassination was horrendous, the operation brought
about the rapid and safe release of all three Soviet hostages.
And it's noteworthy that thereafter Hezbollah didn't muck with
Russians. Not only did it end this particular incident, it also
prevented any others from taking place.
BTW his piece is old so his link on this story is broken...