--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine <salsunsh...@...> wrote: <snip> > Still doubtful? On page 126 he puts up > the results of a poll he took asking respondents > in 12 Muslim nations if suicide bombing in defense > of Islam is ever justified. The results are > scary. In 10 of those countries, an overwhelming > majority believe that yes, it is justified. Only > in Pakistan (where you have a tie) and Turkey > (with a mere 20% believing it) do you not > have a majority. And as Harris points out, even > if all the countries were as relatively benign as > Turkey, it would still be a major problem. > > I'm sure you could find fault with the poll, or ask > how it was conducted, etc. But it looks pretty > straightforward to me.
Except for the fact that the *vast* majority of suicide attacks have nothing to do with "defense of Islam": "Of the 315 suicide attacks that took place during this period [1980 to 2003], 301 were carried out as part of an organized political campaign of coercion against democratic governments. Specifically, the top three instigators documented by Pape are the Tamil Tigers (69 attacks), Hezbollah (36 attacks), and al-Qaeda (21 attacks). Religion was not the root cause of any of the campaigns examined: the specific and strategic goal was to trigger the withdrawal of military forces from the terrorists' national homeland." http://www.naseeb.com/naseebvibes/prose-detail.php?aid=5817 In other words, Harris asked a question that was virtually completely irrelevant to the basis for suicide attacks. One wonders whether he was aware of this and didn't care, or whether he's just very ignorant.
