King:
With all due respect, Schuers analysis is weak - and self-serving. No wonder the CIA can't analyze itself out of a paper bag.
1) A lot of folks have real trouble believing that theology is the driving force behind this stuff. In the modern, secular West, it is strange to find someone who actually takes all the religion stuff seriously, and is actually willing to act on the tenets of their faith. Such as "... Allah wants you to go smite the infidels and you get 72 virgins in the bargain...." And the credulous, the bored, the ignorant, say "sign me up".
2) Only some guy from the CIA would suggest that Bin Laden, et al, dont REALLY mean what they say. Bin Laden and his minions have SAID over and over that it IS about religion, it is about ideaology it is about ultimately establishing the world wide Caliphate.
Like Neville Chamberlain being so sure that Mr. Hitler did not REALLY mean all those nasty things he published in his book.
3) The west ( and US primarily ) caused this by supporting totalitarian regimes in the Mid East? That is absurd. There are no Arab democracies. Bin Ladens late and unlamented ally Al-Zawhiri even spoke on the matter calling "democracy an evil thing". Ok.. so... now the same guy is saying that the Jihad is about popular self-determination agianst totalitarian regimes? But the same folks are trying to establish a world wide caliphate , a theocracy under the control of Mullahs, just like... hmmm.... Iran. That bastion of Jeffersonian ideals.
4) The Wests' unqualified suppoirt for Israel? Wow, he must be reading about different UN votes than I have. Little Israel totally surrounded on all sides by people who make no bones about the fact ( in the Arab press) that they intend to wipe Israel off the face of the map at the earliest opportunity. The PA under Arafat who smiled and signed agreements, and then turned and told the people in Arabic- this does not mean anything.
Based on this reasoning he should suggest that if the support for Israel was more nuanced, the terrorists would stop? How about if the West, just gave up on Israel completely, and let the Arabs drive them into the sea?
Peace in our time, no doubt. The Poles were persecuting Germans who lived in Poland. By golly, so were the Czechs.
The data points directly to ït being about theology. A militant theology driving and striving for the creation of a type of state not seen since the early Ottoman Empire. I do not think it will be successful, but to pain BL and his cohorts as merely folks with a grievance is to foolishly underestimate their motivation.
Regards
GKT
