To resolve a conflict, you have to understand its causes, yet in the West, especially in the US, the average person knows almost nothing about the "terrorists" they're against. We're simply given this idea of a vague "radical Islam" that's threatening the whole world, yet terrorist groups like Daesh (ISIS/ISIL), Al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram are all centered around a very specific belief system: Wahhabism.
Wahhabism represents religion taken to its most ridiculous extreme, and is thankfully only practiced by a minority of Muslims. It views those who practice any other form of Islam as apostates, and it's punishment for apostasy is death. It's got a long list of "thou shalt nots" including things like music and dance, though exactly what is forbidden varies depending on who you talk to. One might wonder how such a backwards religion is now spreading in the modern world, it's often implied that Arabs and Persians are simply "uncivilized people", but its spread is not such a mystery when you realize how rich and powerful those backing Wahhabism are.
Wahhabism is closely tied to Saudi Arabia, you could even say Wahhabism is Saudi Arabia. Roughly 200 years ago, the founder of Wahhabism and the founder of the House of Saud allied together, so from the very beginning Saudi Arabia has been rooted in Wahhabist ideology. Saudi Arabia is the kind of theocracy that happens when the radical Muslims manage to take over a country.
Did you know the Saudi royals own the world's most valuable corporation, Saudi Aramco? The world's reliance upon petroleum products have made them obscenely wealthy. Of course, the fact that modern capitalism is helping to fund Islamic extremists is something rarely discussed. It might make people uncomfortable to realize they're unwittingly supporting terrorism every time they fill up their gas tank.
The Saudi links to terrorism are one of the world's worst kept "secrets". Everything I've mentioned already is well-known among US politicians, but they normally only discuss it in private. Why do they go out of their way to hide Saudi ties to 9/11? Why does the US government and media seem to ignore the fact that al-Qaeda was founded, funded and led by Saudi Arabians? Why is the Bush family close friends with the House of Saud? And the bin Laden family is closely tied in with the House of Saud, so the US presidents and the US's "greatest enemy" hang out in the same social circles... All you have to do is lay out the facts, and vast conspiracies are automatically implied. By the way, the US just recently sold Saudi Arabia over a billion USD in weapons.
If you want to end terrorism, you must get to it's roots. It's no coincidence the terrorists are almost all part of a very specific sect of Islam, Wahhabism, and it's no secret who's behind Wahhabism. Of course, the "war of terror" doesn't seem to care much about these things. The war on terror is about fighting terrorism, not ending terrorism, there's a big difference, and if you want to have a good "war on terror" plenty of terrorism is required. To really end terrorism, the people of the world will have to come to terms with, and then do something about, how incredibly corrupt world politics has become. A good first step there is to actually inform people what's going on instead of promoting ignorance.
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