Teaching Hate

[HagiaSophia]

Countering the assertion of many in American academia, a Saudi official said extremist teachings, not poverty or unemployment, are the root causes of terrorism in the kingdom, the homeland of billionaire Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers.

At a news conference in Riyadh, Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi blamed the spread of terrorism on the “indoctrination that teaches young people they can kill justifiably” and training in Afghan camps, reported Arab News, an officially sanctioned Saudi newspaper.

“I don’t believe that terrorist movement has anything to do with unemployment,” the minister said.

Al-Gosaibi, noting the wealth of bin Laden and his associates, said “I am not aware that somebody has been driven to terrorism simply because he could not find a job.”

Saudi Arabia’s official unemployment rate was 5 percent, about 150,000 people, the minister said. But unofficial estimates put the figure at up to 30 percent, according to Arab News.

worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42819

 

[Lisa_N]

I read a couple of articles on Saudi Arabia that stated the big flood of oil money ‘spoiled’ the Saudi people and for some years they were all simply getting paid to do nothing. It became beneath a Saudi to do regular work. I do know that they imported many professionals, doctors, architects, engineers, etc. Meanwhile the vast majority of Saudi males studied Islam and there is a plethora of graduates in Islam and nothing for them to do. Given that some of the schools teach hatred and hostility to the infidels, it’s no surprise that some are turning to violence. BUt the theory that it is based in poverty is ludicrous else we’d have many terrorists from poor African countries and few from the wealthier Middle Eastern oil empires. The exact opposite has proven true.

Lisa N

 

[Philip_P]

I think it’s a bit more complicated than that. Poor economic conditions may not cause terrorism, but a young man with no prospects for the future is certainly much more receptive to extremist teachings. We saw this, for instance, in the rise of Nazism in Weimar Germany. Did the terrible economic conditions in post WWI Germany cause Nazism? No, but it certainly made its rise much easier. The oppressive and stagnant nature of Saudi society may not cause terrorism in and of itself, but by allowing the formation of a large class of disenfranchised Saudi receptive to extremist Wahabiism, it certainly isn’t helping.

 

[Philip_P]

I also wanted to add that the point about how many Saudis are doing fine is well taken. Disenfranchisement can be political and social as well. The larger issue is the failure of the Saudis to create a culture that the average Saudi has a stake in and in which extreme ideologies are not appealing.