But when, later today ot tomorrow, somebody in Iraq throws a switch to blast themselves into the arms of the virgins, it would seem to stretch credulity to assert that a "huge proportion" of them are the educated and affluent elite.
Good grief.
Why not read the thread and the posts before jumping in feet-first?
If you read the posts I wrote on Sageman's book you'd know that he has limited his empirical research to terrorists more or less associated with AQ.
No, he doesn't talk about Hamas or Hizbollah [this is one of the criticisms levelled at Sageman] or the suicide bombers in Iraq, about whom we, including you, know next to nothing. It may be that they are well-off Saudis, Jordanians or Syrians. We simply don't know at this juncture, so commenting on their relative affluence would be silly.
You have no idea--and neither do I--concerning the socioeconomic circumstances of suicide bombers in Iraq. Sageman conducted a limited empirical study concerning AQ terrorists which I think is worth talking about. So, please, if you want to discuss the book with me on any kind of intelligent level, please read it first and then read my posts. Afterwards, if you think I've lied, feel free to regale me with language like "stretch credulity," because at this point all you are doing is exposing your complete and total ignorance on the subject. |
