What makes a terrorist tick? (Pardon the Pun)

Let's have quick look at a radical Islamic terrorist and see what we come up with.

The immediate problem is that much of our understanding of terrorism is derived from the official statements of the leaders who play up ideological and spiritual claims.

It is rare for our ways of thinking about terrorists to be informed by direct contact with them.

Where we can see them for what they actually are.

They are often people with a poor understanding of what they are trying to achieve or the real consequences of their actions other than a general ideology.

However, in spite of this a few basic characteristics can be inferred from their actions and this will lay a good groundwork for a better understanding of their basic beliefs.

First of all they are all misogynists as witnessed by their attitude towards, and treatment of, women.

They are also anti-Western, or more appropriately, traditionalists or anti-modern.

They have a wish to retain or return to simpler times where things were black and white and their beliefs were not to be questioned.

They are also extremely ego-centric in that they do not have the mental ability to understand that other people may have different opinions and beliefs from themselves.

In other words; "It's my way, or the highway!"

But, more than anything, the Islamic terrorist has an extreme inferiority complex with regards to the West, that is masked by grandiose plans and ambitions.

I'm not sure what the medical term for this is but as I described in my book "The Plain Truth About God!"

The decline of Islam has led down a road to where the modern Arab, for the most part, wonders how his faith and culture fits in with a rapidly changing world.

This is a far cry from originally belonging to one of the greatest cultures in the history of human kind.

One of the main problems with the Arab-Muslim religion of the Middle East today stems from outright religious intolerance combined with an insular culture that is still stuck in the tribal twelfth century!

It is a curious situation where on the one hand the average Arab confesses to overwhelming piety and subservience to Allah; while at the same time he looks with arrogance down on everyone else as being “infidels” and inferior.

This, combined with the rage average Arabs have against perceptions of them in the West as being nothing more than camel herders living somewhere in the middle ages, makes for a truly schizophrenic outlook on their part.

Just as Christianity was stuck in the Middle Ages for a long time, so the religion of Muhammad has, among certain groups, been stuck in the past.

It needs to be dragged into the modern age, kicking and screaming if need be!

One of the best examples of this can be seen in the recent practices of the Taliban in central Afghanistan.

They held a whole nation hostage to their religious zealousness and it took the intervention of outside forces to finally remove them.

Gone is a centuries old way of life as their governments and population are thrust unto the world stage.

Their religion and lifestyle has been given a millennium long drop kick from the eleventh to the twenty-first century.

The cultural shock alone has seriously disrupted the social order and fabric of their society.

Nevertheless, I would like to point out that Muslims themselves bear the most responsibility for the situation they are in right now.

When we look at the tensions between East and West in the light of day, religion is a handy way to rile the population against the “infidels” of the West.

The Imam's know this and it is a fear of Western ideals and culture, combined with jealousy of Western affluence that drives them into such fits of rage.

The Western influence is a direct threat to their authority, especially amongst the young!

Don’t forget that no matter what form of government a Middle East country has, outside of some large urban areas it is still largely controlled by the tribes and Imams!

By the end of the 1970’s America, Europe and various Arab regimes extended too many fundamentalist and extremist groups military, diplomatic, financial and logistical support for two main reasons.

The first was to deflect the attention of Muslims around the world from the anti-American, Iranian understanding of Islam that was being fostered by the clerics under the Ayatollah Khomeini.

The second was of course to reduce American casualties in trying to counter the U.S.S.R. incursions into Afghanistan.

Sponsored by petrodollars, all aggressive interpretations of Islam were published and abundantly distributed in the Muslim world.

This was accompanied by a vigorous publicity campaign assuring Muslims that this was the only right path and correct understanding of Islam.

Other interpretations quickly disappeared amongst the uneducated masses.

Religious and cultural tolerance was slowly eroded while fundamentalism was on the ascent.

However, literature and propaganda didn’t work alone amongst the frustrated Arab citizens living under totalitarian regimes for the better part of a century.

The extreme interpretations of Islam that were circulating provided them with a fascinating religion based Utopia.

A dream that the Imams were only too glad to foster and spread.

The truth of the matter is that Islam now enjoys the same sort of power over the masses as Christianity displayed a thousand years ago.

Why should the power structure of Islam give up any of their perks? It does not matter whether it is Al-Qaida, the Taliban, the clergy running Iran or the militants in Egypt and half a dozen other countries.

They all want to turn their little piece of Eden into an Islamic state.

In other words, a state that is run according to their own ideals, beliefs and benefit; and to hell with everyone else! (Literally)

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available as an E-Book H E R E ! and as a paperback H E R E !

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://allans-perspective.blogspot.com