Democracy=No Terror?

F. Gregory Gause III, associate professor of political science at the University of Vermont thinks otherwise:

"Although what is known about terrorism is admittedly incomplete, the data available do not show a strong relationship between democracy and an absence of or a reduction in terrorism. Terrorism appears to stem from factors much more specific than regime type. Nor is it likely that democratization would end the current campaign against the United States. Al Qaeda and like-minded groups are not fighting for democracy in the Muslim world; they are fighting to impose their vision of an Islamic state. Nor is there any evidence that democracy in the Arab world would 'drain the swamp,' eliminating soft support for terrorist organizations among the Arab public and reducing the number of potential recruits for them."

My Response: Hell, the autocratic regimes in the Middle East have hardly done anything to combat terrorism and in fact encourage hatred of the West, so why not encourage the spread of democracy? How many terrorists originated from the secular, democractic West verse the autocratic, theocratic Middle East?

Via: CS Monitor