Rather than analyzing or investigating any of the numerous, and potentially devastating, terrorist threats to the United States, this thesis endeavors to examine an aspect of the underpinning of some of those threats. Consequently, the scope of this examination is quite narrow. While it is a fact that there are those who desire to harm America and her citizens via any number of imaginable avenues — and specifically for this writing, via acts of terrorism — what compels an individual to commit an act of terror? More specifically, how is an American compelled to commit an act of terror, domestically? This thesis will investigate speeches given by the known terrorist, Adam Gadahn. The goal of this project is to take a number of Gadahn's speeches and analyze them using the tools of rhetoric. Rhetorical analysis, therefore, will hopefully yield some insight into the process of recruiting Americans for the purpose of committing acts of terror domestically.
