I can't for the life of me understand how a human mind could become so depraved as to think that slitting an 86-year-old Priest's throat is somehow acceptable. To some, "the end justifies the means." To me, and I'm guessing I have just a "normal" Western mind, the means ABSOLUTELY DO matter. If you have to lie, cheat, steal, or kill to get what you want, then what you want is evil.
I read today in the Washington Post the results of an extensive survey* regarding Muslim attitudes towards ISIS in 5 Mid-East countries: Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Palestine, and Algeria. Keep in mind these do NOT include the dysfunctional Muslim states of Libya, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, with Pakistan and Egypt "on the cusp".
Sorry for the blurry chart above, but the takeaway is this: between .8% and 5.5% agree with ISIS tactics, and between 1% and 8.9% believe ISIS tactics are compatible with Islam.
With a population of 2.7 million, this means Jordan has 216,000 potential new terrorists.
With a population of 33.6 million, this means Morocco has 504,000 potential new terrorists.
With a population of 11 million, this means Tunisia has 165,000 potential new terrorists.
With a population of 4.3 million, this means Palestine has 382,700 potential new terrorists.
With a population of 39.5 million, this means Algeria has 3,199,500 potential new terrorists.
Now ISIS task is to convince these 4,467,200 potential recruits to "walk the walk" and not just "talk the talk". If only .5%....that's one half of one percent....accept the call to arms, the world will have 22,336 new throat slitters on the loose.
I in no way mean for this statistic to be an endorsement of Donald Trump, but I will say, on this one issue, his suggestion that all applicants for immigration to the US from "certain countries" be thoroughly vetted, is prudent.
If we don't, and we do let even a few hundred of these radicals slip in, and they do the unthinkable, Americans will panic. Let's face it, we're quick to see murder and mayhem behind every tree and rock. Imagine a hundred million gun owners running around looking for those who "don't look right". Yikes!
Then there will be a wholesale backlash against every Muslim, which is exactly what radical Islamist terrorists want. To see Westerners pitted against each other....whether by race, or religion, or whatever....means they have succeeded. They will see us collapse into the abyss with them where for the first time in a thousand years they will be on par with us. That's about the best they could ever hope for.
I say lets just do the responsible, prudent thing now and not give them the satisfaction later.
S
* The Arab Barometer survey was done by:
Mark Tessler is the Samuel J. Eldersveld Collegiate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan. Michael Robbins is the director of the Arab Barometer. Amaney A. Jamal is the Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Politics at Princeton University and director of the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice.
