It's the Occupation Stupid, for Terrorism...

[SPECTRE1]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/10/18/it_s_the_occupation_stupid?page=full

New research provides strong evidence that suicide terrorism such as that of 9/11 is particularly sensitive to foreign military occupation, and not Islamic fundamentalism or any ideology independent of this crucial circumstance. Although this pattern began to emerge in the 1980s and 1990s, a wealth of new data presents a powerful picture.

More than 95 percent of all suicide attacks are in response to foreign occupation, according to extensive research that we conducted at the University of Chicago's Project on Security and Terrorism, where we examined every one of the over 2,200 suicide attacks across the world from 1980 to the present day. As the United States has occupied Afghanistan and Iraq, which have a combined population of about 60 million, total suicide attacks worldwide have risen dramatically -- from about 300 from 1980 to 2003, to 1,800 from 2004 to 2009. Further, over 90 percent of suicide attacks worldwide are now anti-American. The vast majority of suicide terrorists hail from the local region threatened by foreign troops, which is why 90 percent of suicide attackers in Afghanistan are Afghans.

 

[SPECTRE1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks

Bin Laden dropped hints, picking the dates American troops showed up in Saudi Arabia for 'minor' terrorist attacks. He eventually escalated into 9/11...

The continued presence of U.S. troops after the Gulf War in Saudi Arabia was one of the stated motivations behind the September 11th terrorist attacks,[143] the Khobar Towers bombing, as well, the date chosen for the 1998 United States embassy bombings (August 7), was eight years to the day that American troops were sent to Saudi Arabia.[146] Bin Laden interpreted the Prophet Muhammad as banning the "permanent presence of infidels in Arabia".[147] In 1996, Bin Laden issued a fatwā, calling for American troops to get out of Saudi Arabia. In the 1998 fatwā, Al-Qaeda wrote " for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples."[148] In the December 1999 interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai, bin Laden said he felt that Americans were "too near to Mecca" and considered this a provocation to the entire Muslim world.[149]

Media does a horrible job reporting this information to the public...

 

[Lamarr]

Didn't some kooky congressman from Texas say this...........years ago!

"They don't come over here to attack us, because we're rich and we're free. They come and they attack us because we're over there." - Ron Paul

The research suggests that U.S. interests would be better served through a policy of offshore balancing. Some scholars have taken issue with this approach, arguing that keeping boots on the ground in South Asia is essential for U.S. national security. Proponents of this strategy fail to realize how U.S. ground forces often inadvertently produce more anti-American terrorists than they kill. In 2000, before the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, there were 20 suicide attacks around the world, and only one (against the USS Cole) was directed against Americans. In the last 12 months, by comparison, 300 suicide attacks have occurred, and over 270 were anti-American. We simply must face the reality that, no matter how well-intentioned, the current war on terror is not serving U.S. interests.

Islam & War

Islam sets down clear guidelines as to when war is ethically right, and clear guidelines as to how such a war should be conducted.
In brief, war is permitted:

* in self defence
* when other nations have attacked an Islamic state
* if another state is oppressing its own Muslims

War should be conducted:

* in a disciplined way
* so as to avoid injuring non-combatants
* with the minimum necessary force
* without anger
* with humane treatment towards prisoners of war

Muslims must only wage war according to the principles of Allah's justice.