[spence]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

Spence, I pray that you never work for the Dept Of Homeland Security.

Same here, I'd rather not work in that government sector.

You point out that the Times Square bomber was, in addition to being Muslim, an American citizen who was neatly dressed. The problem with that logic, Spence, is that his citizenship nor his clothing chioces, were his motivation for killing Americans. The guy believes that Islam commands him to kill Americans, that makes him a Muslim terrorist.

All well and good, but that's not the point, which was that profiling can at times be an ineffective security strategy. How do you tell by just looking at someone they're a criminal?

Spence, do you really believe that there is no connection between Islam and jihadists? Do you dispute that they are motivated by religion?

I've never said that there's no connection between Islam and violent extremists. Certainly there's motivation to defend (or show empathy with) those with a shared faith (in effect defending the faith) and some take this to a violent extreme. I'd think that a lot of this is actually driven by local issues, religion being a factor, but it's not necessarily the root cause.

Some are simply zealots.

What I have pretty consistently maintained is that the issue is much more complicated than just Islam, and is a product of complex geopolitical events, ideology and power struggles over time. It would be nice to just blame the religion, but that's not going to help us solve any real issues.

We all know that not all Muslims are terrorists. Only kooks deny that most terrorists are Muslims. The LOWEST estimate I have ever seen, estimated that one half of one percent of Muslims are fanatics who would support jihad. Unfortunately, 0.5% of 2 billion Muslims is ten million.

I think numbers like this need to be looked at very carefully. I'm sure a young Palestinian homicide bomber (driven by rage) would be considered here even though their actions might not be a result of jihad. I'm sure a lot of violence in Iraq and Afghanistan are as much a result of the situation on the ground as anything else.

All that being said, there certainly are a good number of fanatics, but I'm far more concerned with the much larger number of those feeling disenfranchised who could turn violent in what appears to be (but isn't) a random manner. That is the global insurgency that bin laden hoped to inspire.

In this I think there's the best argument for a connection between the religion and the violence. But even here, it's not spontaneous. As with the Ft. Hood shooter, perhaps the best most recent example, there was a pattern of behavior that evolved from a troubled person, was infected by radicalism (perhaps simply opportunistic manipulation) and led to a violent criminal act.

There's little about this sequence that shows a shared value with most mainstream Muslims even if it is a shared faith.

I did 2 tours in Iraq with the USMC, I know a lot about these people.

I appreciate your service and am sure you gained valuable perspective and insight from your experiences. I do hope you continue to share them.

And Spence, if you think Juan Williams' remark (being afraid to sit next to muslims on a plane) was offensive, that suggests that when you're on a plane, you really make no distinction between an elderly nun and a young muslim yelling "Allah is great!". There are 3 types of people. Those who agree with Juan Williams, liars (who agree but won't admit it), and crazy people.

The offensive issue wasn't that Juan was showing candor, it's that he made a blanket stereotype. I've already stated I think NPR over reacted by terminating his position for this alone.

As an aside, I travel by air quite a but and have never seen anyone in Islamic dress shout allah is great on the plane. I have seen people in Islamic dress, but even that's pretty rare on the routes I travel. I'm sure there are plenty of Muslims on the plane regardless, but for some reason I don't feel the need for suspicion.

-spence