Oil Doesn't Fuel Terrorism

...tyranny does:

When you drive alone, do you drive with bin Laden? A growing number of foreign policy analysts seem to think so, and the president himself said as much in an interview with CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer a few days before his much-ballyhooed "State of the Addiction" speech to a joint session of Congress. Unfortunately, the widespread belief that conservation and alternative fuels will cripple Islamic terrorism is wishful thinking.

The fundamental problem with the argument is that terrorists don't need oil revenues. The fact that catastrophic terrorism can be undertaken on the proverbial dime (a few hundred thousand dollars paid for the 9/11 attacks) suggests that choking off financial resources to al Qaeda effectively is a hopeless task.

Further evidence of the unimportance of money to terrorism is the absence of a correlation between Persian Gulf oil revenues and terrorist activity. Oil prices and profits during the 1990s were among the lowest ever seen in history. But the 1990s also witnessed the worldwide spread of Wahabbi fundamentalism and the coming of age of al Qaeda. Note too that Islamic terrorists in the 1990s relied upon help from state sponsors such as Sudan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan — nations that aren't exactly known for their oil wealth or robust economies.

So terrorists don't rely on oil revenues. What terrorists need most is a recruiting pool from which to draw. Question: how do you suppose the Muslim world would react to a U.S. policy that had the stated intention of impoverishing Muslims in suspect parts of the world? Lower oil profits, after all, mean smaller state payments to young, underemployed Muslims and a less robust economy.

Al Qaeda's leadership is chiefly disaffected minor relatives of the ruling elite of the Arab world. They lack power and influence within their families, have no chance of governing the nations their fathers, uncles, and cousins enslave, and have been brought up with radical religious beliefs.

This is not new---it is a quite similar demographic to the men who took up the cross and went on the various Crusades. The heir to the throne devotes his life to preparation for rule. His younger brothers tend toward military or academic careers on the way to becoming minor satraps. His more distant male relatives become generals or clergymen---perhaps businessmen or artists. Those who yearn for power and fame in the Muslim world become terrorists, for terror is the only chance they have of climbing over the horde of higher-ranking male relatives between them and absolute power.

The Al Qaeda rank-and-file has a different demographic---they're largely the men left over in a polygamous society who are too low-status to marry. This happens to fundamentalist Mormons in the United States as well. When women are in short supply, something must be done with the men. Al Qaeda has taken advantage of the situation to produce a deep well of martyrs.

It is not oil which fuels terror. It is hatred, pride, and lust.