Jurgen Habermas

If the September 11 terror attack is supposed to constitute a caesura in world history, it must be able to stand comparison to other events of world historical impact.

Today's Islamic fundamentalism is also a cover for political motifs. We should not overlook the political motifs we encounter in forms of religious fanaticism.

Disappointment over nationalistic authoritarian regimes may have contributed to the fact that today religion offers a new and subjectively more convincing language for old political orientations.

I cannot imagine a context that would some day, in some manner, make the monstrous crime of September 11 an understandable or comprehensible political act.

Partisans fight on familiar territory with professed political objectives to conquer power. This is what distinguishes them from terrorists.

Since the intervention in Afghanistan, we suddenly began to notice when, in political discussions, we found ourselves only among Europeans or Israelis.

After September 11, the European governments have completely failed. They are incapable of seeing beyond their own national scope of interests.

Historically, terrorism falls in a category different from crimes that concern a criminal court judge.

Manhattan... capital of the 20th century, a city that has fascinated me for more than three decades.

Each murder is one too many.

In the U.S.A. or Europe there is no realistic way to estimate the type, magnitude, or probability of the risk, nor any way to narrow down the potentially affected regions.

The state is in danger of falling into disrepute due to the evidence of its inadequate resources.