[Gamblor]

Also, as for measuring "stupidity" itself: I should think one's proclivity to blow himself up in blind belief of what his religious leader tells him, and that it will lead him straightway to Paradise and 72 virgins, should be a rather telling measure of stupidity by any account.

That culture is not inherent in these people's beliefs, nor do all people consider the 72 virgins promised by the Koran to be the singular reason why they do it.

The organizations that bring these people to commit such acts are necessarily political in nature. They have certain ideas that they want implemented. They have determined that the only way to achieve their goals is through terrorism, and to convince people to commit such crimes, they must convince them that it is the only way to achieve the goal.

I don't think Arabs are born with the desire to kill themselves and as many innocents as they can, but only after a lifetime (in some cases, 15 years) of hearing how

1) the only way to achieve your goal and be happy is to kill the enemy, and

2) and the only way to kill the enemy is to take yourself with them

they are happily strapping bombs to their chests.

What makes the situation so abominable is that they are murdering innocent people, not the death cult in and of itself. After all, a suicide bombing in and of itself is no worse or better than opening fire in a Colorado high school. The difference is that there are people actively recruiting the former, while the latter worked themselves.

The goal itself may or may not be valid (I tend to think the latter), but it is the method that makes the organizers and perpetrators sub-human.