by David Nuttle

Created on: September 14, 2008   Last Updated: July 02, 2010

For the average person, the emotional impact of any one terrorist attack declines dramatically over time. The usual exception is for survivors and relatives/friends of those killed in any terrorist attack. By having a direct relationship with any victim, a person's emotions remain stronger for a longer period of time. Terrorists typically seek to kill civilians, because, from experience, they know fear and panic is best created by attacking civilians rather than military personnel. Those of us who fail to understand the objectives of the any group of terrorists are more inclined to forget and become less emotional about their attack(s).

Most terrorists do not think in terms of armed conflict against police, paramilitary, or military forces. Terrorists are engaged in a type of psychological warfare, directed at civilian populations, seeking victory by three means: 1) To create fear and panic at a level high enough to cause the economic collapse of the nation being targeted; 2) To cause the targeted government to undertake extreme counterterror measures resulting in the defection of their own population; and 3) To persuade the target nation and government to meet essential terrorist demands.

The emotional responses to major terrorist attacks move through a series of stages starting with denial and then moving (one by one) to anger, sadness. depression, search for reasons why, "striking out," and then eventual acceptance, or even forgiveness (for some). During my days as a CIA Special Operations Officer, then engaged in counterterrorist activities, I had long discussions with leaders of terrorist organizations who had defected, and were fully cooperative. All of these former leaders of significant terrorist organizations told me that they knew from their own experiences that the emotional impact of any one terrorist attack declines over time.

Every former terrorist I spoke with believed that sufficient levels of fear and panic could only be achieved if terrorist attacks became more horrific over time. One of the terrorist leaders I most respected for his wisdom, Tong, told me that the al-Qaeda terrorist organization seeks to employ weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) against the U.S. as a means to soon achieve levels of fear al-Qaeda believes will cause a collapse of the U.S. economy. The terrorists know they cannot ever hope to defeat our military forces.

In some respects the terrorists have been winning. When the U.S. approved the use of torture against terrorist

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