y examine what terrorism is, how it came to be and evolved, and why it happens.

Terrorism is not a new concept. It was not birthed in the events of September 11th. It has a long and violent history that has taken many forms over the years. In order to fully understand the evolution of terrorism we must discuss a few of its key components from history. First, the French revolution and the regime de la terreur and how it influenced Leftist Marxism and State terror in the Soviet Union. Also, the evolution of religious fanaticism will be discussed. We will also discuss how terror itself has changed in the areas of strategy and tools of the trade. Let us not be confused by other violent episodes in history, which took the form of guerrilla warfare or civil war. These events, while they were bloody, were not terrorism (Laqueur 8).

Another change in the evolution of terror is devices by which terrorism achieved. Weapons have evolved over time and terrorists have evolved to suit the change. With advances being made in technology there are also advances being made in terrorism. In early days groups like the Sicari used daggers to assassinate their victims (Laqueur 11). Later, the Noonday Volga, a Russian resistance group, used a hand delivered bomb to assassinate Tsar Alexander II (Hoffman 19). For many decades, The Irish Republican Army has been using car bombs and firearms to achieve its terrorist goals. While all of these examples are indeed frightening, there is something looming on the horizon that is far more dangerous, weapons of mass destruction. These include chemical, biological and nuclear weapons (Falkenrath 2). Many groups, which pose a terrorist threat, have tried to, or claimed to have acquired weapons of mass destruction but few have (Falkenrath 10). The instance of nerve gas in the Tokyo subway released by members of Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese religious sect, is one of few examples of the implementations of these devices.

In conclusion, when studying terrorism, one is faced with many obstacles. There are a number of definitions for a word, which applies to some many different forms of violence and excludes so many others. The history of this phenomenon has changed so very much yet remained in the same in certain ideologies. The motives behind it are sometimes so clear and at other time so cloudy. In America, we are fighting an elusive foe that is religious, political, fanatical, dangerous and hard to target. Millions of dollars are spent every year on counter-terrorism in the hopes that we can somehow control or limit our enemy. Advances in technology mean advances for the terrorists. Those advances mean our lives are at risk. But we cannot live in fear, so we educate ourselves. We must know our enemy.

Now that we have a sufficient idea of the problem we are facing, we can turn to Pillar for the solutions. One problem with U.S. policy on terrorism is that the American government tends to focus on terrorism in the scope of casualties. It matters most to them that lives are saved. Pillar believes that this is an inefficient way to view the problem. This idea plays into the possibility of a nuclear, biological or chemical attack that could cause massive deaths. This also gains too much attention (Pillar 5). Even thought he effects would be devastating, it is not very likely to happen. Dwelling on these subjects takes away from more important problems. Pillar believes that a simple confrontational approach is also not effective. He is deeply critical of America's no deals and extreme punishment values against terrorists. According to Pillar, these actions only aggravate terrorists more and they do not address the basic issue of combating terror (Pillar 8). He argues that negotiating with terrorists is sometimes the most beneficial solution to a given problem. He also says that terrorist situations should be evaluated individually as they differ from one time to the next and a universal solution is not practical.

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Approximate Word count = 3169
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)