"And bombs bursting in air:" a weekend of unusual mortal danger for my family. UPDATED.

[malthaussen]

14. Terrorism rarely works, that's true...

... in fact, it falls so short of its goal, one is tempted to believe that radicals keep using terror only because they're mean-spirited gits who can't think of anything else to do.

Sometimes, terror does work, when applied effectively. The purpose of terror is to cause the enemy's government to crack down on its own people in a futile attempt to stop the attacks and keep their people "safe." The idea is to undermine and disrupt the target government so that it falls of its own inadequacies, not as a result of direct military action, which has little to no chance of success. If not to cause it to fall, create so many disruptions and divisions that it is largely ineffective.

Nope, can't think of a single instance of terror in the past 20-odd years that has had that kind of success.

-- Mal