The question has risen repeatedly on joeuser and around the world as to the culpability of Islam as a faith in terror attacks around the globe. Although the information presented below will not put the debate to rest, I pulled it from hard firsthand sources and not from thirdhand information that interprets the data. I am giving you the information below and the source of my facts, and I invite you to examine the data for yourself. I present, from the data I have gleaned that, while Islam is not to be construed as a terrorist faith, the terror attacks around the globe have disproportionately had Islamic based militants as their source and should be actively decried by the honest God-fearing Muslim community.
I searched for a statistic on the number of Muslims around the globe, and the best I could find was a statement asserting that the estimates vary greatly, somewhere between 700 million and 1.2 billion Muslims. Knowing how these statistics skew to the bias of the presenter, we will accept a statistical mean of 1billion Muslims, roughly 16 percent of the world's population.
Below are the terrorism numbers from 1968-2004, as complete as I can make them.
year international terrorism
(U.S. DOS figures) int'l. and domestic terrorism
(RAND/MIPT figures)
incidents fatalities injuries incidents fatalities injuries
1968 124 34 132 32 191
1969 189 55 155 12 110
1970 300 128 215 105 161
1971 241 35 150 66 91
1972 528 147 171 191 166
1973 323 120 193 72 504
1974 429 304 237 229 690
1975 349 258 221 102 556
1976 468 406 325 346 805
1977 428 245 242 80 299
1978 544 438 242 263 405
1979 441 686 271 290 1,060
1980 499 486 268 156 332
1981 489 164 318 329 1,187
1982 500 129 384 188 637
1983 506 641 317 589 1,045
1984 565 329 326 182 502
1985 635 816 438 688 1,255
1986 612 591 379 346 1,221
1987 665 623 355 358 1,219
1988 605 643 1,131 377 593 1,869
1989 375 411 420 367 170 507
1990 437 218 302 121 366
1991 565 102 242 436 175 284
1992 363 91 636 310 154 751
1993 431 109 1,393 320 464 2,806
1994 322 314 663 333 397 1,088
1995 440 177 6,291 258 245 6,007
1996 296 314 2,911 246 551 2,957
1997 304 221 693 192 266 946
1998 274 741 5,953 1,265 2,149 8,079
1999 395 233 706 1,148 822 2,074
2000 426 405 800 1,138 776 2,537
2001 355 3,295 2,283 1,732 4,643 3,954
2002 205 725 2,013 2,645 2,709 6,708
2003 208 625 3,646 1,772 1,946 5,367
2004 588 1,441 2,935
source: http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/terrorism/intlterror.html
According to the Emergency Response and Research Institute, Islamic terrorists accounted for 56 percent of all terrorist attacks in 2002 (the latest year for which I could find full year stats)(http://www.emergency.com/cntrterr.htm). A further analysis available from the ERRI 2002 report (available at the site mentioned in this paragraph), breaks down the terror attacks by nation, and analyzes them more thoroughly. As this was a .pdf file, I was unable to copy/paste the research, and all statistics herein are hand copied.
Terrorism for the purposes of this blog is defined using ERRI's definition, as follows:
terrorism--premeditated politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience
So, the facts we have here:
*The Muslim community represents anywhere between 16-22% of the world's population
*56 percent of all terrorist attacks in the most recent year studied were perpetrated by Muslims
*The total number of terror attacks suggest they are perpetrated by a MINORITY of the Islamic community.
The percentages, however, should raise some very serious eyebrows. When factions from a religion representing 1/5 of the world's population commit over 1/2 of the world's terrorist attacks, we have to conclude that the faith, as a whole, is more frequently interpreted to the radical end of terrorism. It is important that the clerics who do not represent this interpretation of the Qu'ran speak out and decry these acts, even where such denouncements may be politically unpopular. They need to cooperate with the international community in bringing these terrorists to justice, rather than offering them refuge. And they need to work together with people of all faiths towards creating a world of peace.
The Muslim world may be suspicious of us, but it is that suspicion that has created a wall behind which the terrorists hide. We need to work together to break down that world. Muslim clerics must own up to the culpability of those who would misuse the Qu'ran to their own violent end.
Some more facts from the ERRI report, just for general knowledge:
2001 terror attacks: 864
2002 terror attacks: 429
2001 civilians killed: 4739
2002 civilians killed: 1716
2001 civilians wounded: 3386
2002 civilians wounded: 4936
2001 Military/police/security killed: 586
2002 Military/police/security killed: 398
2001 Military/police/security wounded: 664
2002 Military/police/security wounded: 231
2001 Terrorists killed: 993
2002 Terrorists killed: 149
2001 Terrorists wounded: 110
2002 Terrorists wounded: 5
The official statistic for the number of wounded in the September 11 terrorist attacks is unavailable and not included in this total
respectfully submitted,
Gideon MacLeish