A fresh look at terrorism's roots

This is definitely a must read IMHO.

When considering solutions to really important problems it is useful to step back and ask what if everything we know is wrong.

The question, of course, is not asked nearly enough. Questions that are complex and difficult often require solutions that are equally difficult and complex. Sometimes they require us to shake off our preconceived blinders and think in entirely new ways,

Take, for example, the issue of terrorism. To look at a document like the White House's National Strategy for Combating Terrorism is to read statements like this:

The terrorism we confront today springs from: Political alienation; grievances that can be blamed on others; subcultures of conspiracy and misinformation; and an ideology that justifies murder.

But what if that is wrong? What if all the platitudes and cliches about why people turn to terror, such as George W Bush administration claims that global Islamic terrorists hate democracy and freedom, are based on myths and sound bites, signifying nothing? What if most of the terror experts are guilty of the same sin that the intelligence agencies were accused of in regard to the reason the US invaded Iraq, ie, cherry picking the evidence?

If that is the problem then the answer is this book.

Yeah, yeah, lazy ass blogging. So sue me.

Via Asia Times.