Alchemists of revolution: terrorism in the modern world.

• Author: Ignatius, David

Alchemists of Revolution: Terrorism in the Modern World

Just when the entirecountry seemed to have agreed on the wisdom of bashing terrorists--and of never, ever negotiating with them--along comes a lefty professor from Antioch Law School named Richard Rubenstein to spoil the fun. He poses obnoxious questions, like: What is a "terrorist" anyway? What separates his terrorism from the presumably legitimate political violence of a "freedom fighter"? Shouldn't we try to understand the causes that motivate people to commit such extreme acts of violence? These are reasonable questions, especially in a time like this, when the nation is suffering a mild case of hysteria about the terrorism problem. These days, even posing such questions will strike many people as outrageous.

Rubenstein is right, the differencebetween the terrorist and the freedom fighter is not so obvious as the Jeanne Kirkpatricks and Benjamin Netanyahus would have us believe. Unfortunately, Alchemists of Revolution isn't much of a book.

In many ways it is outrageous,for in seeking to understand what motivates terrorists, Rubenstein loses sight of the evil they do--and of the way that terrorism destroys the fabric of societies where it takes root. Indeed, Rubenstein comes close to an "Officer Krupke" argument ("I'm depraved on account of I'm deprived"): It's really the fault of society if people become terrorists. We have a responsibility to keep young intellectuals from becoming too frustrated, he says, lest they take up the gun. And he seems almost enthusiastic at the prospect that born-again New Leftists may someday soon launch a wave of terrorism in the United States. "It seems clear that we are incubating terrorists in the United States," he writes. "For when hope does rise--and with it rage against the persistence of inequality, injustice, and war--what will prevent educated and ambitious young people from taking the terrorist road?... Even now, should some untoward event ruffle the placid surface of American politics, the probability of increased terrorism is high, if only because of the absence of alternative means of expressing hope and anger."

Egad! Yuppies, wild in thestreets.

The book also suffers from whatmight be called the "oh yeah" school of argument. As in, "You're a terrorist!" "Oh yeah? You're the terrorist!" In this case, the "oh...