Title: Why do People Join or Support Terrorist Groups? | GEOG 571: Cultural Intelligence
Headings: Why do People Join or Support Terrorist Groups?
Why do People Join or Support Terrorist Groups?
Content: For example, terrorists in the Middle East know that nothing could be more likely to anger a Muslim man than the disrespectful treatment of Muslim women. Therefore, Al-Qaeda and others never miss an opportunity to show video tapes and photographs of American soldiers checking Muslim women for weapons, etc. Whereas it has long been held as a fact that poverty and lacking opportunities for advancement motivate people to become terrorists, most experts now agree that the recruitment of terrorists more generally rests on indoctrination and resentment. The presence of American forces in the Middle East, for example, has motivated many to join terrorist groups in order to fight “the American invasion.” Additionally, the actions of Western forces have sometimes caused young Muslim men to become terrorists. Often, those who have lost loved ones as a result of the fog of war harbor great hatred for Americans and other Westerners. Such anger plays into the hands of organizations such as Al-Qaeda. In the final analysis, the end goal of all terrorist organizations is political. They want to end up in charge. Therefore, in that way, terrorist groups are always political organizations, even if they define themselves in different terms.