And that conclusion isn’t confined to Islamic radicals:

Drawing on interviews, published personal accounts and academic studies, Grossman investigates the psychology of killing in combat. Stressing that human beings have a powerful, innate resistance to the taking of life, he examines the techniques developed by the military to overcome that aversion. … Grossman argues that the breakdown of American society, combined with the pervasive violence in the media and interactive video games, is conditioning our children to kill in a manner siimilar to the army’s conditioning of soldiers: “We are reaching that stage of desensitization at which the infliction of pain and suffering has become a source of entertainment: vicarious pleasure rather than revulsion. We are learning to kill, and we are learning to like it.” Grossman, a professor of military science at Arkansas State University, has written a study of relevance to a society of escalating violence.

In this article the argument is made that the motivation for this type of activity is irrational and is directed at stoking the psychic satisfaction of the activist. This is consistent with their attacks of high profile targets. They then undoubtedly revel as they read about themselves in the newspapers, the way serial killers do. Of course you don’t negotiate persons with this type of mentality, much less blame your self for being the “root cause” of their acts. I see parallels with the sixties radicals. They were not concerned with avenging any act that had personally been done to them or their family. In fact they hated their mom and dad as well as their country. These Islamists are much more virulent. The sixty’s Weather Underground carefully placed their bombs so as to avoid killing innocent people. They accidentally killed a night watchman, or a bank guard I think. Today’s terrorists apply extra care so as to maim and kill as many innocents as possible. The only way to deal with them is to hunt them down and kill them.