Cal Thomas has an outstanding op-ed in today’s Washington Times appropriately titled “Terrorism’s Root Causes”.

He hits the topic that is near and dear to my heart. The fact that poverty IS NOT the root cause of terrorism. All of the bombers in London where from upscale/moderately wealthy families. They went to University for goodness sakes. That does not sound like poverty to me. The same goes for the 9-11 terrorists.

In the United Kingdom, the Sunday Times carried a Page One story exploding the myth of a causal relationship between terrorism and poverty among Muslims. The newspaper reported on leaked Whitehall documents that show “Al Qaeda is secretly recruiting affluent, middle-class Muslims in British universities and colleges to carry out terrorist attacks” in Britain. The targets of the “extremist recruiters” are students with “technical and professional qualifications.”

These are not Muslims without a future. These are bright and educated students who, if they wished, could be productive and prosperous members of British society. But many embrace a false theology and a god who requires them to kill “infidels.”

Yeppers. The truth is a wonderful thing isn’t it? He goes on to state the goal of militant Islam:

No amount of aid from the G-8 industrial nations to the “Palestinians,” nor resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict, will pacify these current and potential killers. Even if Israel was obliterated (the goal of much of the Muslim world), the terror would continue until the entire non-Islamic world is under their control.

This is not the belief of an “Islamophobic” bigot. This is what they say in their sermons and media, teach in their schools, and believe in their hearts. It matters little that “the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not terrorists,” to quote a familiar Western mantra. It matters a great deal that most terrorists are Muslims. The sooner Western leaders and Western media begin stating what is obvious to most people, the quicker the real root cause can be dealt with.

I know I have not added much to this, but it is just too good to pass up. He then goes on to list all the areas were the U.S. and Britain have helped Muslims. Such as in Bosnia, aid to the Palestinians, and freedom of religion. But it is to no avail. They still hate us. Here we are again. Why do they hate us? What is the root cause? If it is not poverty or perceived slights, what is it? They hate the West for everything that we stand for. They hate our freedoms. They hate our “decadent” lifestyle. They hate our form of government. But why hate it all? Because their religion tells them to hate it, that one day the entire world will be under Islamic rule and law. If the driving force behind your religion is conquest of all infidels, you get terrorism.

There will be no detente, entente or peace treaty between the forces of darkness and those of light. As much as Western politicians may wish to avoid the true root cause of this war, they do so at their citizens’ peril. This is a religious war. The terrorists understand it as such. Too many in the secular and wimpishly religious West do not.

Somebody give this man a prize for having the balls to say what everyone knows in their heart.