One aspect of the terrorist problem that I think gets short shrift is the demographics of the region. We hear a lot about "root problems" such as poverty, ignorance and American support of Israeli democracy. I've yet to hear a commentator factor in the population statistics. In the States, whenever a population boomlet reaches adolescence, it's just a given that crime statistics will rise. According to BoJ stats I found here, people under 18 are about 3X more likely to commit a violent crime than one over 25. For property crime the rate is about 5X more likely.
The craziness of the Middle East is a little more comprehensible in this light. First, you have the genuine root problems of ignorance, poverty and repression. Then you have a population inflamed by a homicidal and epically vicious "religion of peace." Then you have a region with a higher percentage of teens than the audience at a Freddie Prinze movie. In Iran about half of the population is under 18. In Gaza it rises to 57%. No wonder everyone seems to be nuttier than squirrel droppings -- hordes of teenagers jacked up on hormones and intoxicated with their own immortality and righteousness. It's like an anti-globalist rally with AK-47s.
Birth rates are trending downward in most of the world. The Arabs simply haven't gotten the memo yet. Let's hope they do soon...
__________________________________________________________________________________
Staying with our topic, National Review Online demonstrates once again why it's the best online news 'zine around. Check out The Blood of Iranians for an update on the student protests in Tehran. It's written by one of the protesters. His courage is humbling. The article exposes the true viciousness of the regime. Hopefully State will stop the ridiculous policies of engagement and appeasement, and start backing these student's desire to be free of the mullahocracy. You can't reason with people who sodomize protesters with daggers. You can only fight them. And that's just the way it is in the Middle East.