State Department blames poverty for terrorism … what a canard

There they go again. Terrorists are created by the crushing poverty they face in their home countries. So, we need to give them aid instead of killing them, according this State Department mouthpiece.

Never mind that research in 2003 found that 13 percent of Palestinian suicide bombers were from impoverished families, though about a third of the Palestinians are impoverished. In addition, 57 percent of suicide bombers had some education beyond high school, though only 15 percent of the population did.

The poster boy for terrorism, Osama bin Laden, was the son of a billionaire construction company owner.

American Thinker provides this list of poor, poor put upon terrorists:

• Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed was a mechanical engineer

• Mohammed Atta grew up in a middle class household; his father was an attorney.

• Ramzi Binalshibh was a bank clerk.

Son of a billionaire

• Mohammed Atef was an Egyptian police officer.

• Marwan al-Shehhi was a soldier studying in Germany on an Army scholarship.

• Ziad Jarrah came from a wealthy Lebanese family and attended private, Christian schools.

• Abdulaziz Alomari graduated with honors from his Saudi high school and went on to graduate from college.

• Wail M. Alshehri was a Saudi P.E. teacher and university student.

• Waleed M. Alshehri, also a student, was Wail’s brother. Their father was a prominent Saudi tribal leader.

• Zacarias Moussaoui, the “20th hijacker,” had an MA in international business studies.

• Major Malik Nadal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, was a psychiatrist.

• Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the underwear bomber, was the son of a bank chairman.

• Hammam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi, who killed eight CIA agents in Afghanistan last month, was a physician.

The more likely crucible from which terrorism arises is lack of civil liberties, as Alan Krueger wrote in The New York Times in 2003.

“The ultimate joke would be if civil liberties are sacrificed in the fight against terrorism, as a lack of civil liberties seems to be a main cause of terrorism around the world. Support for civil liberties should be part of the arsenal in the war against terrorism, both at home and abroad,” Krueger wrote.

But this administration won’t let the facts get the way of their story line.