My point was that Baader-Meinhorf and the Red Brigades had nothing to do with the Nazis.
Right, just like the insurgents we are now fighting in Iraq have no relationship to the ruling Baath party that we actually defeated during the war. Like the WWII Nazi "Werwolf" post-defeat, pro-Nazi insurgency, the Baath Party's planned insurgency didn't last long either. Instead, we are facing "come-later" insurgents who, rather than reestablishing Baath Party rule, have establishing some sort of theocracy as their goal. Just like Baader-Meinhof and the Red Brigade were not interested in reestablishing Naziism but rather Communism. [/quote]
But either way, I thought that we were fighting insurgents not terrorists? If someone invaded our country, I suspect there would be a large insurgency. Where were the insurgents if they were not fighting until a few weeks after the Iraqi military was defeated?
If you are attempting to remove what you view to be a false regime from your country you are by some definitions an insurgent. That does not mean you cannot
also be a terrorist due to the methods you choose to use in your insurgency. The terms are not mutually exclusive.
As for where the curretn religiously-based insurgents were immediately post-defeat, I assume most were hunkered down getting a handle on the situaton and deciding if there was anything that needed insurging
against.
The parallels aren't exact because of the greater length and devastation of WWII but most Germans were pretty happy with the post-war situation, especially as they went from "how do I eat, please keep the Soviets away from me" to massive American infusions of cash and supplies after 3 hard years of shortages and death from above.
It was only after survival was assured, and a generation of leisure-living collegiate types was born, that the commie minded had the time to get together and whine about capitalist oppression by the Americans and their German lackeys and some few decided to take direct action.
Iraq didn't suffer that much for very long before the war against Saddam and his Baath party was "Mission Accomplished". Mopping up his Baathists took a while longer but their cause was more or less obviously hopeless so they didn't have much fight in 'em.
The current insurgents arose in large part due to outside instigation, by Iran and the militants like al-Queda (actually much like Sov instigation of the Red types in Europe). Those with axes to grind got a shot of Islamic fervor and commenced to insurging, helped along by old religious, tribal and clan scores not present to such a degree in Germany or most Western countries.
