"Since many terrorist groups are caught up in notions of cosmic war - grand struggles of religious dimensions - they in fact welcome overt warfare since it vindicates their views of the war, a war whose timelines are very long," says Mark Juergensmeyer, a specialist in "new terrorism" at the University of California at Santa Barbara, who visited Lebanon just before bombs began to fall. "A siege is exactly what they want - it keeps them motivated."

Source  ¶ 7:46 AM