In the case of the armed struggle in Northern Ireland, the argument has been that both terror and nationalism are narrations; the notion of terror is an essentialization, a dehistoricized and decontextualized phenomenon upon which counterterrorism depends. Consequently, analyses dependent upon the concept of terror are most often artificial. Conflict over the implications of nationalism, which is the larger theme of the struggle, inscribe and reinscribe the motives and causes of protagonists. This paper considers some perspectives uncontaminated by past rhetorical privileging of one position or another that allows for a more comprehensive picture of the problem. The issue of chief concern here is how terrorism engages the public awareness of Ireland and the Irish Republican movement. Antiterrorists portray themselves as essentially humanitarians, but their rhetoric leads inevitably to the justification of force and violence in the effort to combat terrorist activities. Notes, appendix