countries permissive to Islamic fundamentalism suffer..

Submitted by larry (United States), May 13, 2003 at 12:39

It's interesting the locations of the biggest al-Qaeda terrorist incidents in the past year include Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Phillipines. Saudi Arabia and Indonesia have been unhelpful, at best displaying passive-agressive attitudes towards the fight on terror. The Phillipines have also limited American assistence in their efforts against Islamic terrorists. Instead of a zero-tollerance approach for terrorism in these countries, they have a tempered approach compromised by other considerations.

In an aparent case of "he who lives by the sword...", some of the countries that have tolerated the most public support of Islamic fundamentalism, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Pakistan, have the most troubles with these killers.

In countries and societies where murderers are glorified, by media, goverment and religious leaders, as martyrs, terrorist acts shouldn't really suprise anyone. Given the retoric within Saudi Arabia, one wonders if the Saudi's on the street and the royal family are sorrowful or cheering this latest dispicable act. Since there isn't freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia, we won't see any Gallop or even Zogby polls.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".