Sept. 11, 2002, brought us no closer to sensible thinking about the causes of events a year earlier. The United States concentrated on its own sufferings, and plans for revenge against "terrorists." In Japan, a high-level NHK roundtable dragged out that favorite of aid agencies seeking bigger budgets, namely the claim that the roots of Middle Eastern discontent and "terrorism" lie in poverty and poor education.
At just that moment, one of the well-educated, middle-class Sept. 11 attackers from prosperous Saudi Arabia was saying in a prerecorded filmed interview that U.S. support for Israel and the U.S. presence in the Middle East were the problem. So much for poverty and poor education.
The pejorative use of the word "terrorist" to condemn people who normally should be called militants, rebels or insurgents is bad enough. Far worse is the way it prevents any serious consideration of motives since, by definition, "terrorists" are demented and twisted people incapable of having motives worth considering.