November's Comment of the Month was sent in by Sarah Standish of Portland, Oregon. Sarah commented on Alok Amatya's post Dairy Cows Fight Terrorism in Fallujah. She offers an alternate look at the relationship between job creation and terrorism. Sarah also wisely points out the need to look at more than one source of information before drawing conclusions. For her efforts, we will make a $25 donation to a project of her choice on Global Giving.

This Wall Street Journal blog post mentions that one study suggested that job creation may not necessarily reduce terrorist attacks:

When unemployment declined in Iraq and the Philippines, violence increased. The scholars say that one reason for this is that government forces may be able to pay off locals for tips on guerrillas more cheaply when unemployment is high. Another possibility is military crackdowns may increase unemployment, because communities are walled off, but reduce attacks by insurgents.

These ideas should definitely provoke us to think carefully about the relationship between violence and job creation, but I don't think they present any compelling reasons to stop focusing on job creation. It sounds to me like the authors have noticed an interesting phenomenon but don't know quite how to explain it yet. In a complicated issue like this one, a single study is probably not enough to draw any absolute conclusions.

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Iraqi women are caught in the crossfire between military troops and insurgents. Can dairy farming help bring peace to Fallujah? Photo: .ash (flickr)

Here's an innovative way to expand economic opportunity for Iraqi widows and reduce the threat of terrorism: give the women a dairy cow and teach them how to take care of it.

The U.S. Marine Corps is actually trying this in Fallujah, says the LA Times. They enlisted the help of Lockie Gary, a dairy-farming expert for Land O' Lakes. Gary is working with a group of 50 women — many are widows of insurgents — teaching them how to care for their cow. The women can earn a small income from selling products made from the cow's milk. But according to Gary, an added benefit is that in the long-term, this program might reduce the number of terrorist attacks in the area. He explains why in Farmer and Rancher Magazine:

If the cow could be made to produce enough milk beyond the family’s needs, then cheese and yogurt could be produced as well and the widow might be able to hope for a brighter future. The intent of the program is not entirely altruistic, however. With a source of income and a glimmer of hope, widows may be less inclined to be recruited as suicide bombers and that could save lives.

The program is still fairly new, and the women can't earn enough to support their families by selling the milk and cheese from a single dairy cow yet. But according to Gary, their high-quality milk and cheese should fetch better prices over time.

Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai during the recent terrorist attacks Photo: Stuti Sakhalkar (flickr)

India and Pakistan have a violent history since partition in 1947. Relations remained fragile even prior to last month's attacks in Mumbai. But they were getting better, at least on the economic front.

A year ago freight trains started to carry goods across their borders for the first time since partition. Bilateral trade had grown to $2 billion per year. And leaders had scheduled expanded trade talks in early 2009.

Now the question is whether the Mumbai bombings — thought to be the work of Pakistani militants — will ratchet up tensions high enough to overturn gains made in economic relations.

Jairam Ramesh, India’s Junior Minister for Commerce, told the The New York Times: “Four years of sincere and bold initiatives from both sides have been put on pause mode. The momentum is badly affected."

It seems obvious that poverty and terrorism are closely interwoven. The search for answers in last week's terrorist attacks in Mumbai has prompted the links between the two to be probed once again.

But how associated are they, really?

Back in 2002, the general consensus was that poverty relief efforts could be a leading tactic in the fight against terror. Since then, however, a number of researchers have taken issue with this correlation, starting with the fact that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by middle-to-upper-class men. (A 2003 paper suggests that terrorist groups may recruit well-educated, well-off members because they can blend into their Western targets.) Harvard professor Alberto Abadie ties the rate of terror events to a nation's political freedom as well as its size, elevation and weather — but not its economic status.

The rationale behind the idea that terrorism can be a by-product of poverty persists because it seems pretty logical. Poverty can surely lead to a sense of societal alienation, which could make people more likely to join a terrorist group. Assuming that is the case, extending the benefits of economic growth to marginalized communities could lessen the threat of terrorism. But is this perceived alienation actually a result of poverty, or something else entirely?

Anecdotally, poverty relief efforts — especially education — appear to be powerful antidotes to terror. A prime example is American Greg Mortenson's efforts to build dozens of schools in remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, which are documented in the book Three Cups of Tea. According to Mortenson, "Education in general is a powerful tool to provide alternatives to the illiterate, impoverished areas that are the recruiting grounds for terror."

With 14,000 terrorist events in 2007 alone, attempts to understand the roots of terrorism aren't mere academic exercises. Correctly determining the true causes of terrorist activity can mean the difference between a successful anti-terror strategy and thousands of lives lost.