ABSTRACT
The fundamental contradiction the terrorists must deal with is that while they deliberately employ what people in fact regard as terrorist violence, they characterize their actions as something else. Behavioral assessments have been made of terrorist literature, using psycho-linguistics, psychiatric assessments, psychologic analysis, propaganda analysis and even graphological analysis. The media was full of talk of the need for European cooperation against the united terrorist front. This chapter suggests how terrorists see themselves, what they think they are doing, and what they think their actions will accomplish. It proposes a simple framework for a more systematic examination of the terrorists' view of themselves and their actions. Terrorism entails the use of violence for effect, 'speaking with action' rather than with words. Yet whatever the terrorists believe they will accomplish is fairly well hidden. That they believe they are successfully moving toward this unknown is often stated and with confidence.
