The Illustrated Guide to Terrorism

Chapter 1: What Is Terrorism?

Page 12: What did the Sicarii WANT?

Various Sicarii discussing with the reader, one with a knife to a hostage’s throat.

SICARII

We just told you why: To get Rome out of Judea!

No master but God!

Damn straight. I’ll die before I call any Roman “master.”

I’ll kill you if you do.

That goes for our ruling class of priests, for any other collaborators, and anyone else else who legitimizes Roman rule.

{Suggested edit: Lost the redundant “else”}

Same crew, talking it over.

NARRATOR

But… so then you ARE a resistance?

SICARII

Well… no… when you get right down to it, Rome isn’t really the problem.

True. Crime’s never been lower. And business has been booming ever since Rome took direct control of Judea back in ’06.

“Direct” control? We still enforce our own laws and customs. They mainly provide stability and good administration.

You hardly ever even see a Roman…

Sure, all right, we’re paying Roman taxes for it, on top of the tithes we give the priests…

But we can afford the taxes now, too, so who’s complaining?

All their hands raised

SICARII

But that’s not the point. It isn’t Roman rule that’s the problem.

Our fellow Jews are the problem! We’ve strayed from the true faith, and God has called us to restore it!

To restore the Promised Land, ruled by God’s chosen people!

(Okay, yes — us, not Rome)

To bring about the end times! The Kingdom of God! To usher in the final age of peace!

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NARRATOR

Now we’re getting somewhere.

Just as with present-day terrorist groups, the Sicarii’s APPARENT goals weren’t what they were ACTUALLY trying to achieve. Modern antiterrorism efforts have often failed for this reason — for failing to grasp the terrorists’ true motivations. It’s always worth the effort to figure out what’s really going on.

So let’s take a moment for some historical perspective: