Terrorist links to Muslim states less than many think
Looking at profiles of terrorists who perpetrated recent attacks in the West it’s hard to identify them as practising Muslims at all, so interpreting their actions as some consequence of their reading of Koran does not make much sense, however fertile the
Just like insurgents in the South who are Muslims and yet fight for nationalistic rather than religious goals, terrorists in the West motivate themselves by non-religious reasons, too.
A few years ago The Nation reprinted an article by an American Muslim who wanted to join jihad to right the wrongs inflicted on defenceless Muslims in far out countries because standing up for what is right and annihilating enemies is what he learned from western culture, and it was his fellow Muslims who persuaded him that it’s not a way of Islam.
I can’t think of any Islamic country that can be considered as a breeding ground for terrorism; it’s just not what Muslims do. The Taleban were shockingly barbaric but it still wasn’t a terrorist state. ISIS, on the other hand, is an “astro-turfed” organisation which is considered as alien anywhere it goes. It is able, just like Al Qaeda before it, to draw on a specific segment of disenchanted youth ready to right perceived wrongs but it still is not an indigenous Islamic movement.
As for calls for Muslims to do more to weed out terrorism, a movie quote comes to mind: “I can’t get a girl to reply to my text and they are asking me to stop terrorism!?!”
Stan G
