There are but a few things that I would add to this discussion.
Firstly. Good man inOBU. A more succinct description of the conflict I haven't seen in a long time.
Secondly. I wish people would get away from this "Terrorist" word. It is a word which is heavily used by governments to describe, mostly for propaganda purposes, those who have endured enough of the 2nd class citizenship, discrimination which, lets not forget was institutional.
Armed resistance against an oppressive master is the last resort. Whatever drives a man or a woman to take up a gun and fire it into his/her enemy, you can be damn sure that all the other options have failed.
The government, and their masters, who themselves favour one side over the other are themselves the cause of the problem.
Their news media make it acceptable.
While everybody is tch tch ing over what is happening in Chetjnia, the average Russian wants to drop nukes on them.
The reporting of that war for us in "the west" is vastly different from the Russian's handle on the whole thing.
Who's the "terrorist" here?
The IRA are not terrorists in my eyes, never have been. Sometimes I think they have sent a boy out to do a man's job, but remember who is the oppressed here. Incidents like Manchester, Omagh etc are as equally a "mistake" as when as inOBU points out the "Dirty Tricks Brigade" of the British Army did, with the knowledge of the Chief Constable of NI stir the pot a "bit" in order to prolong the conflict, so to justify their presence there.
Have a read at this . When I was going to school there used to be a big map of the world on our classroom wall. And I was impressed, even at a young age at all the red countries there were.
The very people who brand Bobby Sands a terrorist are inheritors of some rather grusome legacies themselves. Their foreign policy was expansionist and territorial. For Gods sake don't start using their terminology as well.

Oh, incidentally, a very Happy, and peaceful New Year to all of you 'Catters. My hope for the new millenium is the end of all militarism......everywhere! God Bless
Breandán