IT'S NOT PHILOSOPHY

Personally, I think the terrorist problem is something that can be traced to economics and education level rather than differences in philosophy or religion. Saying that it is a philosophical or religious issue is a gross simplification of the overall problem. It’s an issue of Haves versus Have-Nots.

Part of the problem with a lot of countries where terrorists are recruited from, is that they have a lot of young people but not enough jobs. For instance, Saudi Arabia pretty much only has the oil industry; it has made the royal family very wealthy, but unemployment rate is 25% in 2003. That’s a pretty bleak looking future when even McDonald’s might not have a job for you. It’s a bad combination of a bunch of desperate people with nothing to lose and people of influence/authority pointing out a scapegoat to these people that we get to the situation where we are at today.

To solve this problem, we gotta have a second coming of the Marshall Plan. If we accelerate the economic growth of these developing and underdeveloped nations, we would cut the number of new recruits willing to die for an extremist ideology by a million. It's all about getting people to move up & fulfill more of their personal needs on Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs. To me, it’s not a Muslim versus Christian or East versus West issue. Generally, people are not going to commit themselves to a cause that requires sacrificing their lives if they have hope and a better prospect for the future.

Whoo! I just used a pop psych reference. How do you like them apples, Dr. Pup?