>Nicholas, it seems your answer boils down to this: Establish socialism, and the problem will get solved.
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>This evades the fact that most of these nations are socialistic in some ways already - they use oil revenues to create big welfare states already.
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>Also, let's look at the kinds of people in Al-Qaeda. Osama bin Laden...heir to a huge construction company's fortune. Personal worth about $300,000,000.00 at one time. Used to finance all of Al-Qaeda's operations with his own personal wealth. Then Al-Qaeda go too big for him to pay for it all. So they wound up burying the hatchet with Saddam Hussein and started to get money from his immense coffers for further operations.
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>Zawahari - second in command...Egyptian medical doctor at one time. No poverty for him in adult life. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed...third in command. Trained as an engineer. Pretty well set up for good paying civilian life. Joined Al-Qaeda instead. Etc. down the ranks.
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>No, this is a matter of ideology and religious fanaticism, not of wealth.

I think that's true, to some extent, for the leadership. But the extreme poverty in that part of the world makes recruiting foot soldiers much easier. When people are struggling to eat and have no schools for their kids, feeding them and educating their children creates tremendous loyalty. And of course, educating those kids provides a tremendous opportunity to make the kids believe what you want them to believe.

I mentioned "Three Cups of Tea" either in this thread or another this week. Have you read it? It's a fascinating account of how an American found himself building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The focus isn't on the politics of that area, but of course, that's a major character. It's worth reading.

Tamar