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http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200703/NAT20070302b.html

"Experts Debate What Drives Islamic Terrorists"
By Monisha Bansal
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
March 02, 2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) - More than five years after 9/11, experts continue to debate what motivated the attacks on the United States and other violent actions by Islamic extremists against the West.

Differing views were aired at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, when Hoover Institution fellow Dinesh D'Souza argued that policies promoted by the radical left had made al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden "strong enough and emboldened enough to carry out attacks."

D'Souza said that liberal policies were seen as a "shameless and shocking assault on the values of people who live in very traditional societies, so we've gotten a backlash from that."

"We are setting out to have a war with one billion Muslims," he added.

But Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, argued that the root cause is religion, noting that "Islamic terrorists use religious texts to justify their actions."

"Islamic jihad has always been pursued whenever Muslim states and communities have had the means to pursue it," he said. "The problem is Islamic jihad."

"Mohammed advocated warfare against non-believers," noted Spencer. "Islamic jihad is an imperative rooted within the Islamic religion. All the sects that are considered orthodox by Muslims hold to this view. Jihad warfare is an imperative part of mainstream teachings."

He added that the reason "Islamic jihad terrorism" was not widespread for many years was because "they have not had the means until the last 25 years in the modern era."

Spencer said Saudi oil revenues now provide those means. "Saudis have been extremely successful in funding terror worldwide."

D'Souza disagreed.

He blamed the left not only for liberal policies that enrage conservative Muslims, but also for the current situation in Iraq."