668 Terrorism? Why do they do it?
Letters to the newspaper:
I am aghast at our Prime Minister’s Comment piece in the SMH today, where he so succinctly regurgitates all available variations of descriptions as to how ghastly terrorism is, how we must not turn on each other, continue with life as normal as possible and just how important our military contribution is against IS in Syria and Iraq. Yet another prominent head firmly stuck deep in the sand of ignorance. How, PM, is it possible that in the entire piece not a moment is spent reflecting on what the root causes of terrorism are and what may need to be done other than bombing the proverbial out of the demons at al’Quaeda and ISIL?
Paul McGeough points out that in Belgium terrorism recruiters pray on the jobless and the angry. Sam Harris has previously pointed out that many Muslims are frustrated with the perceived continuous denigration of Islam and Islamic culture, which they may perceive as superior to Western Culture; with the perceived underdog status of Islamic economies, when compared to Western economies.
The terrorism equation would look dramatically different if these notions - combined with the anger felt by many Muslims (and ALL Islamic terrorists) in regard to the status of Palestine - were addressed by our politicians and the media.
Remember:
Three generations of Palestinians have lived in camps, without any hope of their own state as promised by the UN, with little work, without rights to their forefathers' properties and without hope for the future. The seeds for terrorism were sown in 1947, when a whole nation was reduced to the state of refugees in their own country.
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CARSTEN BURMEISTER Mosman
Julie Bishop said on 7:30 in the wake of the Brussels bombings, “we have to attack the problem at the source”, when she was asked why fight in Syria and not divert the resources to defend against terrorism at home.
There is a fateful disconnect in the actions of the West’s politicians when fighting “The War on Terror”. They don’t acknowledge that the way the war is fought constitutes a major recrutement drive for terrorists. Terrorism will be with us for probably more than a generation. It will not likely be defeated by force. Our foreign minister thinks we have to attack the problem at the source, i.e. fight a hot war in Iraq, maybe Afghanistan, possibly Iran etc. But this thinking is part of the problem.
If “attacking the problem at the source” were to mean a solution in the Middle East - where three generations of Palestinians have lived in camps, without any hope of their own state as promised by the UN, with little work, without rights to their forefathers' properties and without hope for the future - the terrorism equation would look dramatically different. The seeds for terrorism were sown in 1947, when a whole nation was reduced to the state of refugees in their own country.
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CARSTEN BURMEISTER Mosman