What explains rich-kid terrorists | By Peter Bergen for CNNOpinion
Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, a vice president at New America and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. He is the author of"United States of Jihad: Investigating America's Homegrown Terrorists." The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion articles at CNN.
Sri Lankan Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said Wednesday that most of the terrorists who killed at least 359 people at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Sunday were"well-educated and come from maybe middle- or upper-middle-class. So, they are financially quite independent, and their families are quite stable financially."
Peter BergenTwo of the suicide bombers were the sons of a wealthy Sri Lankan spice trader, Mohamed Ibrahim, sources with knowledge of the investigation told CNN. This likely runs counter to what many people may believe about suicide bombers.
Hundreds killed in Sri Lanka bomb attacks 02:36In fact, terrorism experts have long known that terrorism is often a bourgeois endeavor.Before we unpack that, let's stipulate that large insurgent groups that also practice terrorism, such as the Taliban, recruit tens of thousands of foot soldiers largely from the ranks of the poor and pay them a monthly wage. That is why the Taliban are one of the largest drug cartels in the world: they have to meet a large payroll every month.
The fact that insurgent groups often recruit from the ranks of the unemployed poor suggests that an effective policy response would be to supply jobs for unemployed youths in countries such as Afghanistan.That policy response wouldn't work for middle-class jihadist terrorists motivated by ideology.
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