[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

It doesn't make it more acceptable and the people who have done these things don't deserve any compassion or restraint, and yet, it DOES matter. A distinction has to be made between genuine psychopaths and people who have been deliberately indoctrinated, broken and twisted. Not for them, they are gone, they are now worthless to the world, they can't be "unbroken", they have been turned into "soulless" tools of war, but believe me when I say that it is VITAL that people accept that they were NOT born that way and that other people - people whose faces you will most likely never see, and whose names you will never know - have deliberately taken these people and warped them.

It matters more than almost anything else. Because if you ARE right... if the majority of terrorists are psychopaths who were simply "born wrong"... then all efforts to combat terrorism are utterly futile. Thankfully, I believe (no, I know) that it's not the case. It is not "in their genetic code". A perfectly healthy mind, especially a young one, can be taken, and shattered. And that is how terrorists recruit. And the people at the top of that chain are not religious and do not believe in Allah or any sort of crusade... those are simply their tools. A population with high levels of strict religious adherence and low levels of quality education. Ripe for the picking.

You keep 'moving the goalposts' T.S.

First of all T.S. you are once again starting to argue from a completely false premise because I have already stated - at length - that not all terrorists are 'psychopaths' who were simply 'born wrong', and I am not going to keep repeating myself to defend myself against false argument for argument's sake.

But when you state that "it is not in their genetic code" you are 'flying in the face' of the results of exhaustive scientific research.

And as for economic poverty or poor education being factors in the making of these terrorists, the facts do not bear this out, because research has shown that the risk of terrorism is not significantly higher for poorer countries, once other country-specific characteristics are considered.

Indeed, out of the 50 poorest countries in the world only Afghanistan - and perhaps Bangladesh and Yemen - has any relevance as far as terrorism - global or domestic is concerned.

So what do we conclude from the other 47 economically poor countries with their poor standards of education? Why aren’t they ‘breeding’ terrorists?

Further: Most of the 911 hijackers hailed from Saudi Arabia – a country with relatively high ‘per capita’ incomes and a relatively high level of schooling and education.

In addition, research into Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, who support terrorism, reveals that the highest level of support for the general policy of attacking Israeli targets comes from literate rather than illiterate Palestinians.

Another study – ‘Perspectives on Terrorism’ researched 18 revolutionary groups, including the Japanese Red Army, Germany's Baader-Meinhof Gang, and Italy's Red Brigades, and concluded that "the vast majority of those individuals involved in terrorist activities as cadres or leaders is quite well-educated. In fact, approximately two-thirds of those identified terrorists are persons with some university training, and well over two-thirds of these individuals came from the middle or upper classes in their respective nations or areas."

So the facts are diametrically opposed to any notion that ‘poverty’ or ‘poor educational standards’ are seedbeds where terrorists are nurtured.

In fact - as In have stated earlier - education, such as those practiced in the West Bank and Gaza and other parts of the Middle East, tend to incorporate terrorist propaganda into their curriculum and actually promote terrorism.

So much for the ‘rank and file’ then T.S. but what of the leaders of terrorist groups?

Yasser Arafat, leader of Fatah and the PLO which bombed children on school buses and assassinated Israeli athletes at the Olympics, had a net worth over $1.3 billion .

Osama bin Laden’s personal fortune was estimated to be $300 million.

What of Terrorists Groups themselves?:

ISIS: Net worth - $2 billion
Taliban: Net – worth over $400 million
Al-Qaeda: Over $100 million a year income.

So much for ‘poverty’ being a factor in terrorism.

We will continue to disagree on whether a 'normal' human being can ever be indoctrinated into beheading innocent unarmed, cowed and bound, defenseless people and coldly executing hundreds of terrified, innocent and defenseless schoolchildren, without the propensity for such demonic savagery being already within their psyche or not.

And disagree on your point that these poor terrorists 'deserve compassion', because - just as I could not give a flying feck about poor little Thompson and Venables being 'only children themselves'- every last ounce of my compassion is spent on the poor innocent victims and their families.

As to the rest of your post - it is is redundant, because far from countering my viewpoint, it actually agrees with it, as I have stated many times at length on here that 'Religion' has nothing to do with these Islamic Fundamentalists terror war, and that they are just evil, twisted psychopaths venting their bloodlust under Allah's convenient standard.

[Northern Monkey]

Originally Posted by kirklancaster

You keep 'moving the goalposts' T.S.

First of all T.S. you are once again starting to argue from a completely false premise because I have already stated - at length - that not all terrorists are 'psychopaths' who were simply 'born wrong', and I am not going to keep repeating myself to defend myself against false argument for argument's sake.

But when you state that "it is not in their genetic code" you are 'flying in the face' of the results of exhaustive scientific research.

And as for economic poverty or poor education being factors in the making of these terrorists, the facts do not bear this out, because research has shown that the risk of terrorism is not significantly higher for poorer countries, once other country-specific characteristics are considered.

Indeed, out of the 50 poorest countries in the world only Afghanistan - and perhaps Bangladesh and Yemen - has any relevance as far as terrorism - global or domestic is concerned.

So what do we conclude from the other 47 economically poor countries with their poor standards of education? Why aren’t they ‘breeding’ terrorists?

Further: Most of the 911 hijackers hailed from Saudi Arabia – a country with relatively high ‘per capita’ incomes and a relatively high level of schooling and education.

In addition, research into Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, who support terrorism, reveals that the highest level of support for the general policy of attacking Israeli targets comes from literate rather than illiterate Palestinians.

Another study – ‘Perspectives on Terrorism’ researched 18 revolutionary groups, including the Japanese Red Army, Germany's Baader-Meinhof Gang, and Italy's Red Brigades, and concluded that "the vast majority of those individuals involved in terrorist activities as cadres or leaders is quite well-educated. In fact, approximately two-thirds of those identified terrorists are persons with some university training, and well over two-thirds of these individuals came from the middle or upper classes in their respective nations or areas."

So the facts are diametrically opposed to any notion that ‘poverty’ or ‘poor educational standards’ are seedbeds where terrorists are nurtured.

In fact - as In have stated earlier - education, such as those practiced in the West Bank and Gaza and other parts of the Middle East, tend to incorporate terrorist propaganda into their curriculum and actually promote terrorism.

So much for the ‘rank and file’ then T.S. but what of the leaders of terrorist groups?

Yasser Arafat, leader of Fatah and the PLO which bombed children on school buses and assassinated Israeli athletes at the Olympics, had a net worth over $1.3 billion .

Osama bin Laden’s personal fortune was estimated to be $300 million.

What of Terrorists Groups themselves?:

ISIS: Net worth - $2 billion
Taliban: Net – worth over $400 million
Al-Qaeda: Over $100 million a year income.

So much for ‘poverty’ being a factor in terrorism.

We will continue to disagree on whether a 'normal' human being can ever be indoctrinated into beheading innocent unarmed, cowed and bound, defenseless people and coldly executing hundreds of terrified, innocent and defenseless schoolchildren, without the propensity for such demonic savagery being already within their psyche or not.

And disagree on your point that these poor terrorists 'deserve compassion', because - just as I could not give a flying feck about poor little Thompson and Venables being 'only children themselves'- every last ounce of my compassion is spent on the poor innocent victims and their families.

As to the rest of your post - it is is redundant, because far from countering my viewpoint, it actually agrees with it, as I have stated many times at length on here that 'Religion' has nothing to do with these Islamic Fundamentalists terror war, and that they are just evil, twisted psychopaths venting their bloodlust under Allah's convenient standard.

Agree with this.These terrorists don't tend to be ill educated and their organisations certainly are'nt poor.Al Qaeda terrorists have infiltrated the CIA and trained to be pilots,Not stupid or backward people.

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by ArchAngel

I believe this also, no race or religion is inherently bad.

Have you actually read the Quran?

Do you actually know who wrote it?

Do you know the life story of Muhammed?

Can you explain the 'cluster' effect of terrorists in the Middle East over 1,400 years?

Can you explain 1,400 years of almost unbroken terrorism and war in the Middle East?

Can you explain why no other region on Earth has the same 2 statistics?

Can you offer me any other religion which has world domination as its self-proclaimed mission?

Can you tell me the last time you saw a Christian, Jew, or Hindu beheading innocent victims?

Can you tell me the last time you saw Christian, Jewish or Hindu 'soldiers' strolling casually through a school's classrooms mercilessly executing innocent little schoolchildren?

[Benjamin]

This was the saddest moment in the news on it

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