UN General Assembly
1972

36. Terrorism takes many forms. It is called forth by a wide range of complex situations. The rights and wrongs of these situations are bitterly contested. It is simple realism to recognize all this. But the problem cannot be ignored because it is difficult. There must be no truce with terror. Some acts of terror are the work of deluded and demented criminals, others of frustrated and desperate men willing to sacrifice their own lives and the lives of innocent people in what they regard as a noble cause. When we agree that the cause is noble, we are tempted to condone the terror. But are we wise to do so? The act we condone today may be the one we regret tomorrow, when it is turned against us, for terrorism in the end affects everyone: it is an attack on civilization at large. Violence breeds violence, murder answers murder, and order dissolves in chaos.