EDUCATION, POVERTY, POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM: IS THERE A CAUSAL CONNECTION?

The evidence we have assembled and reviewed suggests there is little direct connection between poverty, education and participation in terrorism and politically motivated violence. Indeed, the available evidence indicates that, compared with the relevant population, participants in Hezbollah’s militant wing in the late 1980s and early 1990s were at least as likely to come from economically advantaged families and have a relatively high level of education as they were to come from impoverished families without educational opportunities. We should caution, however, that the evidence we have considered is tentative due to data limitations. In addition, our focus has been primarily on the Middle East, so our conclusions may not generalize to other regions or circumstances.

Nevertheless, less quantitative studies of participants in a variety of forms of terrorism in several different settings have reached a conclusion similar to ours. We are particularly struck by Russell and Miller’s (1983) work in this regard. To derive a profile of terrorists, they assembled demographic information on more than 350 individuals engaged in terrorist activities in Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East from 1966 to 1976 based on newspaper reports. Their sample consisted of individuals from 18 revolutionary groups known to engage in urban terrorism, including the Red Army in Japan, Baader-Meinhof Gang in Germany, Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, Red Brigades in Italy and People’s Liberation Army in Turkey. Russell and Miller found 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, university graduates or postgraduate students.” They also report that more than two-thirds of arrested terrorists “came from the middle or upper classes in their respective nations or areas.”

Enough evidence is accumulating that it is fruitful to begin to conjecture why participation in terrorism and political violence is apparently unrelated, or positively related, to individuals’ income and education. The standard economic model of crime suggests that those with the lowest value of time should engage in criminal activity. But we would hypothesize that in most cases terrorism is less like property crime and more like a violent form of political engagement. More educated people from privileged backgrounds are more likely to participate in politics, probably in part because political involvement requires some minimum level of interest, expertise, commitment to issues and effort, all of which are more likely if people are educated and wealthy enough to concern themselves with more than mere economic subsistence. These factors could outweigh the effect of opportunity cost on individuals’ decisions to become involved in terrorism.

The demand side for terrorists must be considered as well as the supply side. Terrorist organizations may prefer highly educated individuals over less educated ones, even for homicide suicide bomb attacks. In addition, educated, middle or upper class individuals are better suited to carry out acts of international terrorism than are impoverished illiterates because the terrorists must fit into a foreign environment to be successful. This consideration suggests that terrorists who threaten economically developed countries will disproportionately be drawn from the ranks of the relatively well off and highly educated.

On the whole, we conclude that there is little reason to be optimistic that a reduction in poverty or increase in educational attainment will lead to a meaningful reduction in the amount of international terrorism, without other changes. Stern (2000) observes that many madrasahs, or religious schools, in Pakistan are funded by wealthy industrialists, and that these schools deliberately educate students to become foot soldiers and elite operatives in various extremist movements around the world. She further reports that, “Most madrasahs offer only religious instruction, ignoring math, science, and other 33 secular subjects important for functioning in modern society.” These observations suggest that, to use education as part of a strategy to reduce terrorism, the international community should not limit itself to increasing years of schooling but should consider the content of education.

Ever notice how many Islamic terrorists are medical doctors?

***********************************************************

* Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri–Al-Qaeda mastermind and number two man, reportedly a surgeon and/or psychiatrist;
* Dr. Mohammad Rabi Al-Zawahiri–Ayman’s father and a Muslim Brotherhood enthusiast, pharmacologist and professor at Ain Shams Medical School;
* Dr. “Abu Hafiza”–Al-Qaeda master planner who was the brains and commander of the Moroccan cell that provided logistics for the 9/11 attacks, and he recruited Qaeda insurgents for battles in Fallujah, Moroccan psychiatrist;
* Dr. Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi–Late HAMAS leader, pediatrician;
* Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahar–HAMAS co-founder and leader, surgeon and lecturer at the Islamic University in Gaza;
* Dr. Fathi Abd Al-Aziz Shiqaqi–Late founder of Islamic Jihad and active in Fatah, physician;
* Dr. George Habash–Founder and chief of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), pediatrician (which is interesting since he rocketed a school bus full of children in Avivim, Israel;
* Dr. Wadih Haddad–2nd in command of the PFLP, with Dr. Habash, and the mastermind of all of its armed terrorist operations. The strategy of terrorist hijacking as a way of attracting media attention was conceived by Haddad in 1967, according to an interview with the late Carlos “The Jackal”, who worked with Habash, Haddad, and PFLP to perpetrate hijackings and other terrorist attacks. The 1968 hijack of an El Al flight was Haddad’s baby. Haddad also planned the executions of the Arab world’s oil ministers, begininng with the Saudi Oil Minister. The Jackal also said:

Dr. Wadih Haddad is the historical initiator of armed revolutionary operations across borders.

* Dr. Bashar Assad–President of Terror-sponsor state Syria, welcoming home to every Islamic terrorist group imaginable, ophthalmologist;
* Dr. Rafiq Sabir–Boca Raton emergency room physician convicted in Al-Qaeda terrorist plot, pledging to treat and train terrorists, along with a New York martial arts expert;
* Dr. Wameeth Fadhli–A University of Texas medical doctor in the Galveston/Dickonson, Texas area, he sat in his vehicle, last summer, and shot several times at a random, 22-year-old infidel bicyclist. The male bike-rider, shot in his chest and shoulder, was in critical condition. Dr. Fadhli awaits trial, now scheduled for July 30th;
* Drs. Laila Al-Marayati and Riad Abdelkarim–Both work with and/or are top officials of KinderUSA (son of the Holy Land Foundation), which Al-Marayati voluntarily shutdown before the FBI did, as it was openly funding HAMAS “martyrs.” Abdelkarim went to “Palestine” in May or so of 2002 with Dr. Dallel Mohammed (not an MD). They took monies collected at an April 2002 fundraiser and were caught by Israeli security handing over the funds to a HAMAS operative. They were detained in an Israeli jail, and a large orgy of publicity ensued. The two came back to the U.S. as Muslim “martyrs” used it to raise money for more;
* Dr. Yazeed Essa–a Palestinian Medical Doctor of Gates Mills, Ohio. In 2005, he poisoned his pregnant 38-year-old wife, Rosemarie, with cyanide. She crashed her car and died. Dr. Essa fled to Lebanon and then traveled to Cyprus, where he was arrested, last October. Currently fighting extradition to the U.S.;
* Dr. Yahyah Basha–The Muslim Medical Doctor from Syria, who lives in the Detroit area, has a history of support of terrorist groups in his capacities and head of the now-defunct American Muslim Council (whose founder and Chairman sits in federal prison for terrorist activities and a plot to murder the Saudi King) and the American Muslim Alliance. Unfortunately, President Bush and the Michigan Republican Party remain close to Dr. Basha, even accepting free rental of office space from him. An FDA inspection of his nearby facility revealed “serious compromise in the quality of the mammography services offered.”
* Dr. Azizul Islam–Detroit area Muslim Medical Doctor from Asia murdered and dismembered his non-Muslim wife, convicted in 1999;
* Dr. Mohammed Jamil Abdelqader Asha–a 26-year-old neurologist who was arrested and is in custody as a suspect in the attempted London bombings, foiled Friday. He was born in Saudi Arabia, is of Palestinian origin, and has a Jordanian passport. His 27-year-old wife, a medical assistant, was also arrested for the foiled bombings;
* Dr. Bilal Talal Abdul Samad Abdulla–an Iraqi from Baghdad who was also arrested and is in custody as a suspect in the attempted Glasgow International Airport bombing, foiled Saturday. He was reportedly in the Jeep that drove into the airport, and is suffering from third-degree burns;
* Dr. Mohammed Haneef–an Indian Muslim arrested in Australia on Monday night in custody as a suspect in the attempted British terrorist bombing plots of last week;and
* The rest of the EIGHT Muslim Doctor(s) arrested as suspects in the British bombing plots of last week.

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/1501/i-told-you-so-the-muslim-doctor-terrorists-are-no-surprise-revealing-muslim-doctors-oath/

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.