Zarqawi's Dead, Long Live Terrorism

I will not really comment about Zarqawi's death per say. I will comment about extremism instead, and how we can slow it down or prevent it from growing, so that in the end we have much less terrorism.

I found several articles on the internet (Toney Blair interviews, Aljazeera articles, BBC stuff,) all relating poverty to religious extremism. The fact that poverty is more likely to lead to religious extremism than wealth seems to be evident (with very few exceptions). So with that in mind, I find it weird on Uncle Sam's part not to help a key ally in the region in getting rid of poverty. I say weird, because in the case of Jordan, a diminutive 200 million $ would do the trick. This need not come in direct aid, where there is some chance it can be lost along the way, but in the form of investments.

But before that, I think Uncle Sam can do something that is even more beneficial and costs much less. Uncle Sam can leave Iraq and the region. I know it is hard and it would appear embarrassing after all this BS talk about creating a democracy. Also, the date for Armageddon would slip by a few years. But that is no big deal.

Considering President Bush's popularity numbers, I do not think it can hurt that much. The worse that could happen is that his job approval rating would go down by a couple of points. Also, he can use a lame excuses for pulling out the troupes. For example, he can claim saving the troupes thousands of needless hours in the crappy Iraq weather.

One last method to reduced terrorism is to have more Westerners and Arabs know each other. If you had an American (Arab) friend and knew that they are not that different from you, then you will not think about Americans(Arabs) stereotypically, and would separate the actions of the governments from the actions of the individuals.