New York. Washington DC London. Nairobi. Beirut. Yazidis. Beslan. Mumbai. Lockerbie. These are the places where some of the world's worst terrorist attacks took place, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children. The perpetrators of these attacks were almost always a relatively small group of individuals labeled as terrorists. It is said that one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter. This is the problem with understanding terrorism, a word that means many things to different people. Our different perspectives make this a difficult problem to define and solve. These incidents occurred relatively rarely, but their impact was long and deep. What could cause human beings to be so destructive of life and property? It's a question that many have tried to answer, but on which few agree. Politicians and the intelligence community tend not to focus on individuals but on terrorist organizations and the state that supports them, because these larger entities have a greater impact on a country's national interests . Terrorist groups cannot exist without individuals choosing to participate. Understanding what motivates the individual is essential to being able to stop them before they commit these heinous acts. The main conclusions reached by researchers are that individuals are motivated by external factors such as religious zeal, political injustice and socio-economic conflict. These explanations, along with consideration of individual psychology, create a model into which many terrorists can be classified. There is little research into the psychology of terrorism, as it is a covert activity that often leaves the perpetrator dead, but capture and int...... middle of paper ..... .Sciences Press, Inc. 183 -192.Friedman, Thomas. “The heart of Muslim rage”. The New York Times. March 6, 2012. A25. Kreuger, Alan. “What makes a terrorist?” » The American. November/December 2007.Web. October 14, 2013. Long, David E. The Anatomy of Terrorism. New York: The Free Press, 1990. Print.Pillar, Paul R. “Fighting the War in Afghanistan Encourages Terrorism.” Terrorism. Ed. Laurie S. Friedman. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2011. 73-78. PrintShiva, Vandana. “Economic problems cause terrorism. » Terrorism. Ed. Laura Egendorf. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2004. 86-91. Print.Sullivan, Anthony. “Islam does not encourage terrorism.” Terrorism. Ed. Laura Egendorf. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2004. 79-85. Print.Warraq, Ibn. “Islam encourages terrorism.” Terrorism. Ed. Laura Egendorf. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2004. 70-78. Print.