ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the politics of the diverse representations of terrorism. It analyzes the politics of representation, on the understanding that culture is a crucial site for the negotiation of political and moral values and for the development of an often uneven and contested public understanding of history and its significance. The chapter also explores the public activity of devising a particular narrative of anti-terrorism and US power. The issue of Middle East terrorism entered US public life in a profound way in September 1972, when Palestinian guerrillas broke into the Israeli compound at the Olympic Games in Munich. US responses to the Israelis' military operation were remarkable for their level of emotional engagement. In November 1979 Iranians loyal to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overran the US embassy in Tehran and took fifty-two Americans hostage. By January 2002, enthusiasm for the war against terrorism was beginning to be mixed with precisely such doubts about its long-term outcome.
