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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (5694)	7/23/2003 7:11:53 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 15991

But in the fundamentalist world, such actions only go to reinforce the extremism arising thereof. This happens with any fundamentalist movement. So it is Islamic fundamentalism that we need to confront. IMHO Oh? Then where was the Islamic militant uprising that was promised back before the war? Where are the "hundreds of Bin Ladens" that Mubarak warned of? You seem to perceive that militant fundamentalism is an effect without a cause.. A disease without a treatment.. Do you understand the conditions in that region which have permitted it to thrive? Try these for a few examples: 1.) Lack of economic opportunity due to corrupt and ineffcient governments and financial markets. 2.) A youthful population approximating 60% under the age of 25 throughout the region. This effect is primarily caused by parents increasing their odds of having a child who is successful enough to care for them in old age (as well as "free" labor for running the family business). Population decreases as economic prosperity increases, as witnessed in the industrialized economies. 3.) A Saudi regime under increasing pressure to cave in to the demands of its Wahhabist clerics (who exert their control over the holy cities and annual hjad activities). You have to treat the symptoms Chinu, to eventually win this war. Folks like Paul Wolfowitz, from what I've seen and heard, understand this. But to treat the symptoms, you have to have access to the patient to the point you can "convince" them to face the truth about their condition and seek "treatment". And I believe that with regime change in Iraq, SA recognizes that it really faces the possibility of being eclipsed as a regional and global power by what the US is trying to create there. We've put the Saudis in a corner, IMO. They have to do something about their militant clerics, or face the consequences for the terror they have permitted to entrench within their society. And furthermore, they will have to economically diversify in order to create sufficient prosperity to placate their extremely young population (50% under the age of 18). And with economic diversity, will come political openess. Hawk