So the reason I give would be four on your list :)
The whole thought process is that the reporting causes panic. And that is not the cause. The cause is the event. People will attribute a dead squirrel to the terrorists if they want. I mean even after years in America of having no terrorist attack people still jump to the conclusion that any failed aircraft, explosion or bug bite is a terrorist plot.
Anyway...thanks for the interesting discussion. It's always fun to hear people's ideas especially from different parts of the world.
One interesting difference I see between the IRA and Al-Qaeda is that the IRA was not as willing to die for their cause as Al-Qaeda patsies are. So hopefully if they are having trouble recruiting people willing to die (as I said in response to Stacy Lynn in reference to a news areticle I read on Yahoo) then maybe Al-Qaeda will go the direction of Sinn Fein.