ge in their own country. Without a stake in the
existing order, they are vulnerable to manipulation by those who
advocate a perverse political vision based on violence and destruction.

--+_Grievances that can be blamed on others_+. The failures the
terrorists feel and see are blamed both on others and on perceived
injustices from the recent or sometimes distant past. The terrorists'
rhetoric keeps wounds associated with this past fresh and raw, a potent
motivation for revenge and terror.

--+_Subcultures of conspiracy and misinformation_+. Terrorists recruit
more effectively from populations whose information about the world is
contaminated by falsehoods and corrupted by conspiracy theories. The
distortions keep alive grievances and filter out facts that would
challenge popular prejudices and self-serving propaganda.

--+_An ideology that justifies murder_+. Terrorism ultimately depends
upon the appeal of an ideology that excuses or even glorifies the
deliberate killing of innocents. Islam has been twisted and made to
serve an evil end, as in other times and places other religions have
been similarly abused.

Defeating terrorism in the long run requires that each of these factors
be addressed. Effective democracy provides a counter to each,
diminishing the underlying conditions terrorists seek to exploit.

--In place of alienation, democracy offers an ownership stake in
society, a chance to shape one's own future.

--In place of festering grievances, democracy offers the rule of law,
the peaceful resolution of disputes, and the habits of advancing
interests through compromise.

--In place of a culture of conspiracy and misinformation, democracy
offers freedom of speech, independent media, and the marketplace of
ideas, which can expose and discredit falsehoods, prejudices, and
dishonest propaganda.

--In place of an ideology that justifies murder, democracy offers a
respect for human dignity that abhors the deliberate targeting of
innocent civilians.

Democracy is the antithesis of terrorist tyranny, which is why the
terrorists denounce it and are willing to kill the innocent to stop it.
Democracy is based on empowerment, while the terrorists' ideology is
based on enslavement. Democracies expand the freedom of their citizens,
while the terrorists seek to impose a single set of narrow beliefs.
Democracy sees individuals as equal in worth and dignity, having an
inherent potential to create, govern themselves, a