Terrorism wasn't a very effective method of intimidation before the establishment of a mass media. The closest thing anyone could achieve was putting a victim up on a spike for as many people to see as possible, but the reach of such an act was pretty insignificant. But over the course of the 20th century, media became an increasingly powerful tool for terrorist organizations--the current efforts (9/11 and onward) are unquestionably the most sophisticated and media-savvy terrorist acts of all time.
People who educate themselves and stay ontop of the media should be able to see through the terrorism, though; America is, despite the dead of 9/11, still one of the safest places in the world, and that the number of people being killed by hostage-takers in Iraq is really an almost insignificant amount--a tragedy, yes, but no more of a tragedy than any other human death. One conceptual way to win the war on terror would be to educate everyone to the extent that they understand how little we really have to fear from terrorists.
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