Guerrilla wars, and even more so terrorist assaults, are conducted only by forces with insufficient strength to carry out a real war.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Guerrilla war is a kind of war waged by the few but dependent on the support of many.
It is important to emphasize that guerrilla warfare is a war of the masses, a war of the people. The guerrilla band is an armed nucleus, the fighting vanguard of the people. It draws its great force from the mass of the people themselves.
Guerrilla leaders win wars by being paranoid and ruthless. Once they take power, they are expected to abandon those qualities and embrace opposite ones: tolerance, compromise and humility. Almost none manages to do so.
There is such a thing as legitimate warfare: war has its laws; there are things which may fairly be done, and things which may not be done.
I never call it an insurgency. I call it terrorism.
Terror can never be defeated by force alone.
You can't talk about defeating insurgencies in the same way that you can with a conventional army.
I started to make a study of the art of war and revolution and, whilst abroad, underwent a course in military training. If there was to be guerrilla warfare, I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them.
The word 'insurgency' had connotations that really sent a shiver down the spine of folks in Washington, in the United States - for good reason, because it means this is something much bigger than just a few terrorist cells.
Insurrection by means of guerrilla bands is the true method of warfare for all nations desirous of emancipating themselves from a foreign yoke. It is invincible, indestructible.