TERRORISM AND THE YOUNG
Why do "some" young people in the Arab/Muslim world and even in the West find the appeal of terrorist groups like ISIS so alluring? Could it be because for the younger generation they see no hope for jobs in their future? As a result they become "true believer" fodder for an anti-western jihadist ideology.
The young of many Middle East nations are trapped in autocratic regimes like Saudi Arabia and Egypt where the "revolution of rising expectations" is met with a reality that hope for a secure economic future is simply not a reality. Hope is replaced by dispair and with dispair comes a potential terrorist recruit.
When one combines this with the three track class system in these nations - a rural peasant class with very traditional religious values, an educated urban class without job prospects and the offspring of the 1% who can live off the largess of their families - you get a combustible mix which becomes fertile recruiting ground for groups like ISIS.
One sees little effort by the US or our allies to address this problem by bringing economic development to this region.
"....the continuous single biggest driver of the kind of criminal Islamist extremism we see in the IS phenomenon is the predicament of several hundred million individual Arab men and women who find — generation after generation — that in their own societies they are unable to achieve their full humanity or potential, or exercise their full powers of thought and creativity, or, in many cases, obtain their basic life needs for their families..."
- Rami G. Khouri - "Antidote to the Islamic State Threat" - see left sidebar
What does one do when the kids on the block join the bad guys?
My "CC" sent me this article (below) from The Nation which can't distinguish the Dubya era of invading Afghanistan and then Iraq from the Obama administration's pullout of troops and more cautious approach to responding to terrorism, including the horrific and barbaric version of ISIS. Instead the author resorts to an eschatological tirade of blame America for everthing gone wrong in Iraq.
http://www.thenation.com/article/181440/washington-created-its-own-worst-nightmare-it-could-still-create-something-worse
One wonders what the author might have said back in the day when Hitler implemented the "final solution" - blame FDR? Contrary to the author we live in a world where we have to find proximate solutions to impossible problems. The author's assumption that doing nothing is a solution - well it's an option, albeit a morally repugnant one. But when one is on the sidelines it's easy to be a Monday morning QB.
Let's remember that Dubya's invasion mania was based on a big lie - WMDs. Obama's fear is based on the reality that these ISIS dudes are lopping people's heads off and worse. Obama is not going to launch a ground war against ISIS. That's a canard. What he's going to do is try to help the Kurds and Iraqi forces to fight back with US airpower and drones as back up. Ya got a better plan - send Barack an e-mail.
My long term plan turn jihadists into entrepreneurs. But first somebody has to stop the killing fields...
Reader Comments (4)
Cheers.
It's a trade secret and one of us signed a "non-disclosure agreement" so WE can't answer that question!