@ A J Stiles
"Bombings without associated demands are pretty pointless --"
I must strongly disagree. Bombings in market places make the unspoken point of "do not inhabit those places". Bombings of schools do the same. Government buildings. Power plants. Water plants.
Do you need a terrorist leaflet to tell you?
The demands of the terrorists are endless and ever-changing. The final goal is taleban-style rule over a world-wide ummah.
From an osama spew a few years ago:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/worldview/story/0,,845725,00.html
"(1) The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.
(a) The religion of the Unification of God; of freedom from associating partners with Him, and rejection of this; of complete love of Him, the Exalted; of complete submission to His Laws; and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion He sent down to His Prophet Muhammad..."
"It is to this religion that we call you; the seal of all the previous religions. It is the religion of Unification of God, sincerity, the best of manners, righteousness, mercy, honour, purity, and piety. It is the religion of showing kindness to others, establishing justice between them, granting them their rights, and defending the oppressed and the persecuted. It is the religion of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil with the hand, tongue and heart. It is the religion of Jihad in the way of Allah so that Allah's Word and religion reign Supreme. And it is the religion of unity and agreement on the obedience to Allah, and total equality between all people, without regarding their colour, sex, or language.
Translation: convert to my version of Islam or die. Simple, direct.
These are the associated demands and have been for years.
"they tend to be wasteful of ammo and personnel, ..."
Again, I would disagree. One suicide bomber with the right amount of "ammo" in the right place can not be said to be"wasteful" in terrorist definitions. And the Madrid bombings seem to have had some effect on the Spanish government's policies a few years back.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=N0P&q=bin+laden%27s+demands&btnG=Search