Bill Clinton links extremism to lack of opportunity

[bowman]

The former US President is currently in the UAE. In a speech he gave in Dubai he said that there is a link between extremism and lack of opportunity in the Middle East.

Gulf News - Former US president Bill Clinton on Wednesday drew a link between extremism and lack of opportunity in the Middle East, telling students at the American University in Dubai (AUD) that suicide bombers are driven by a feeling they have more to gain in the afterlife than now.

The former president and husband to the current US Secretary of State said this feeling is the biggest danger "in the Middle East and in the difficulties that the Palestinians and the Israelis are having today."

"If we keep going on where the Palestinians are absolutely convinced that tomorrow is going to be just like yesterday, it can have calamitous consequences not just for them, but for all the rest of you as well," he said.

Clinton also highlighted the need promote education, equality and economic opportunity in fighting extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying "we cannot shoot our way out of the world's instability".

Has he got a point? Unlike alot of americans with big opinions about the ME, Clinton has actually been in the region a few times.

Does anyone think that it's still possible to shoot thier way out of the current conflicts in this region.

[patriot_son]

Originally Posted by bowman

The former US President is currently in the UAE. In a speech he gave in Dubai he said that there is a link between extremism and lack of opportunity in the Middle East.



Has he got a point? Unlike alot of americans with big opinions about the ME, Clinton has actually been in the region a few times.

Does anyone think that it's still possible to shoot thier way out of the current conflicts in this region.

I sure don't think so. You have to take into consideration my "anti meaningless wars" position however.
But to Mr. Clinton, I'd say that lack of opportunity in the ME is nothing new. And a meaningfull industry certainly isn't the poppy fields of Afghanistan.
No answers from me... only more questions.

[bowman]

Originally Posted by patriot_son

I sure don't think so. You have to take into consideration my "anti meaningless wars" position however.
But to Mr. Clinton, I'd say that lack of opportunity in the ME is nothing new. And a meaningfull industry certainly isn't the poppy fields of Afghanistan.
No answers from me... only more questions.

Well I sit firmly in your "anti meaningless wars" position Frenchy.

It doesn't take a maths degree to work out that if a farmer can earn 5 times the money growing poppies for some unknown person a thousand miles away to inject into themselves or grow the alternate crop (or as is the case give no alternates) which one they would go for.

[freesoul17]

The only question I have is why do those people invite hypocrites to teach them democracy and how they should act while and even pay them when they killed their brothers and sisters some miles away from them? They should ask Bill what did he mean by "lack of opportunities" especially when it comes to UAE?

For me they are hypocrites and criminals against humanity, despising others wherever they go, telling them what they want to hear. Just follow the speeches of his monster wife Hillary. They are all slaves of Zionist regime and they are saying what they want them to say.

I hope that he was not surprised by finding UAE is more developed country that USA. The most place that cause instability in that region is Israel and now Iran is showing its thirst for blood there, with the interference of the USA. One time they are sponsoring terrorist groups under different names to cause conflicts, and US comes to give speeches about lack of opportunity. If they care about humanity, they will care about their own people who most of them live on food stamps and charities, while wasting their money on wars that benefit just big heads and destroy lives of innocents from both sides.
What hypocrisy!!!!!!

[anukulardecider]

Originally Posted by bowman

The former US President is currently in the UAE. In a speech he gave in Dubai he said that there is a link between extremism and lack of opportunity in the Middle East.



Has he got a point? Unlike alot of americans with big opinions about the ME, Clinton has actually been in the region a few times.

Does anyone think that it's still possible to shoot thier way out of the current conflicts in this region.

So, they are not blowing themselves up because they hate us for our freedom and religion? LOL


It's not hard to figure out their motives if we put ourselves in their shoes. Most people just don't take the extra minute to do so. I think religion may be a factor, but not the main factor.

[dixon76710]

Originally Posted by bowman

The former US President is currently in the UAE. In a speech he gave in Dubai he said that there is a link between extremism and lack of opportunity in the Middle East.

Lack of opportunity isnt unique to the Middle east and these suicide bombers currently seem to be unique to Islam

[quietcount]

Originally Posted by anukulardecider

So, they are not blowing themselves up because they hate us for our freedom and religion? LOL


It's not hard to figure out their motives if we put ourselves in their shoes. Most people just don't take the extra minute to do so. I think religion may be a factor, but not the main factor.

I do not think religion has got anything to do with it. It has got more to with our country's involvement in an area that has nothing to do with us. I can remember seeing an American president on T.V. saying that America would not be the police for the planet. That was when Israel was invading all it's neighbors and These were all asking for help. And America turned its back on them and sided with Israel.
Now America and the coalition are imposing their will in the same area.
No i think that Islamic extremists hate us because they have a just reason to hate us. If we do not like it we should change it instead of letting our government take away more of our civil liberty's and invade other innocent country's who's only crime is to have a different culture from ours.
On American television these country's are portrayed as war mongering freedom hating extremists. You only have to look at white supremacists or the K.K.K. to find this attitude not in other country's. We have no right to try and change other country's constitution.
We need to sort out our own country before we have any right to tell another that their way is the wrong way.

[mrmacq]

Originally Posted by dixon76710

Lack of opportunity isnt unique to the Middle east and these suicide bombers currently seem to be unique to Islam

And yet while these are the images emanating so often from the Middle East, it is the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka who first perfected the technique of suicide bombing as a means of terrorising a population for political ends.

Estimates vary, but since 1987 the so-called Black Tiger unit of the group has reportedly carried out more than 150 such attacks, their victims including former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.


Mia Bloom, political science at the University of Cincinnati and author of Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror, yesterday told The Independent: "[The common link is] the conviction. Whether it's conviction to an issue, to a cause – nationalism or a misunderstanding of Islam – the one thing that [links] them is this conviction." Ms Bloom said that examples, largely from Chechnya, showed that when suicide bombers were simply paid – the money going to their families – it was more likely they could be swayed from acting. She added: "When it's conviction, it's very hard to do anything." Yet in his book, My Life Is a Weapon: A Modern History of Suicide Bombing, German journalist Christoph Reuter, also warns that a simplistic view of suicide bombers as crazed fanatics does not hold true. He says many modern-day bombers are well-educated young people who willingly offer to carry out the attacks on more powerful "oppressors".

now before you go on
cause we know you will
research dude

[Maldoror]

Originally Posted by dixon76710

Lack of opportunity isnt unique to the Middle east and these suicide bombers currently seem to be unique to Islam

You're correct; lack of opportunity is not unique to the Middle East. Islam is not the problem, however. Throughout history, colonial incursion has always produced resistance. And, yes, that resistance has often been in the form of terrorist acts. Algeria is a famous example. Now, the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the perspective of the Occident, is certainly different in context, but not necessarily different in the how the people of those two areas of the world perceive the West. Anuk is correct -- we often fail to consider the perspective of the other side.

I just read an eye-opening novel, The Sirens of Baghdad, by Yasmina Khadra. Khadra's narrative interrogates the notion of perspective as it pertains to our understanding of terrorism. I would highly recommend it.

[bowman]

Originally Posted by anukulardecider

So, they are not blowing themselves up because they hate us for our freedom and religion? LOL


It's not hard to figure out their motives if we put ourselves in their shoes. Most people just don't take the extra minute to do so. I think religion may be a factor, but not the main factor.

I just found it interesting that his stance was such on this matter............and he never mentioned the War on Terror once.