May 27,2008: The sharp reduction is Islamic terrorist violence in Iraq over the last year, is mirrored in other parts of the world as well. In short, Islamic terrorism is on the decline. You don't get that impression from the news media. That's because, for competitive reasons, the news must emphasize negatives, rather than accurate statistics that revealing positive news. Terrorism is up in Afghanistan, Gaza, Pakistan and Algeria, which appear to be the four places the remaining Islamic terrorists are moving to.

The decline is largely the result of Islamic terrorism killing so many of the people it purports to protect. This has long been a major problem for Islamic radicals. Precisely targeted attacks, that only kind that will not anger the general population, are very difficult to carry out. In the past, some Islamic terrorist groups have tried to do this, but it proved impossible. In Iraq, al Qaeda deliberately sought to kill lots of civilians, despite pleas from its Sunni Arab allies that this was not going to work. It didn't, and when the Iraqi Sunni Arab terrorists turned on al Qaeda last year, it came as no surprise to those who were following events carefully.

The slaughter of so many Moslems (Sunni and Shia) by al Qaeda in Iraq served to make Islamic terrorism unpopular throughout the Moslem world. While many Moslems went along with the idea of killing infidels (non-Moslems) and establishing a world-wide Islamic dictatorship, they were repelled by the killing of fellow Moslems. Al Qaeda justified this as necessary "involuntary martyrdom." That never caught on with the general Moslem public.

It's important to remember that many Moslems are still OK with the concept of killing infidels for the cause. If a Moslem terrorist group comes up with a way to do this without killing Moslems, you will see this sort of thing celebrated throughout the Moslem, especially the Arab, world, just as the September 11, 2001 attacks were.