11no matter how evil or secular the target of Western
power happens to be. Saddam Hussein was the per-
fect example: he was a universally hated secular
tyrant. But the moment a co ali tion of non- Muslim
states attacked him, much of the Muslim world was
outraged that “Muslim lands” were being invaded
by infi dels. Of course, there were many perfectly
sane reasons to be against the war in Iraq, but that
wasn’t among them. One of the problems with re-
ligion is that it creates in- group loyalty and out-
group hostility, even when members of one’s own
group are behaving like psychopaths. I would add
that when we did eventually intervene in Bosnia,
for purely humanitarian reasons, we didn’t get
much credit for it.Nawaz Absolutely. I mention it only because where
grievances are relevant is in priming young, vulner-
able individuals who are experiencing a profound
identity crisis to receive ideological dogma through
charismatic recruiters. Once that dogma has been
received, it frames one’s worldview, the lens through
which others are perceived, the vehicle by which
others are recruited; it becomes the language we
speak. It is very im por tant to understand that, be-
cause grievances will always exist. They’ve existed
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