I was with you right up to your last sentence. 'Our freedoms,' that's the number one cause of terrorism?
I live in Spain. I know something about terror, man. And what ETA despises is FREE people in the Basque Country, willing to say to them: get your shit out of my hands and my house.
Terrorist are cheap people, in that sense. B-series villains, really. They just hate people not complying with their wishes: i.e. 'free' people.
This is what each dictator hates most. And they are dictators: "I know what is right and shall put all means into play in order to obtain it".