Does Poverty Lead to Violent Jihad?

IF POVERTY leads to terrorism, why don't all the poor in Africa, China, and India blow people up all the time? Most people in the world, no matter how poor or oppressed, have not and would not, do such a thing as walk into a crowd and blow themselves up. Duh.

"In a newly-released directory of Islamist attacks and convictions in the U.K. over the past decade, the Center for Social Cohesion, a British think tank focusing on extremism," wrote the international editor, Patrick Goodenough, "reported that at least 31 percent of the individuals involved 'had at some point attended university or a higher education institute.'

"And at the time of the attack or criminal proceeding, 42 percent of the individuals were either employed or in full-time higher education.

"The Center for Social Cohesion said its analysis 'does not support the assertion made by some that there is a correlation between terrorist activity and low educational achievement and employment status.'

"Abdulmutallab, the would-be Christmas Day bomber, was a mechanical engineering graduate of one of Britain’s most prestigious institutions, University College London, where he also headed the Islamic Society in 2006-2007."

Source: Experts to Obama: You Can’t Ignore the Islamic Ideology Behind Terrorism.