September marks 10 years after the horrific 911 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in America. It was a turning point in history both in terms of the reach and the sheer numbers slain by terrorists in a single incident. Sadly it was just one of many other attacks that have since followed including the 7/7 bombings in London and more recently the massacre in Norway.

The ideology that has spawned violent extremism and reactive violent extremism has its roots in  adistorted interpretation of religion – be it Islam, Christianity or any other faith. Sometimes the links made with religion are direct and overt, in other cases they are subtle and more obscure, but in all cases they are used to project a moral sense of purpose for what is simply cold blooded murder in the name of God.

Whilst such violence across the world is not new it is worryingly on the increase, despite the millions of dollars spent on counter-extremism programmes. Worse still, in some countries (eg Pakistan and Indonesia) such violence is supported by legislation or at the very least is  conveniently ignored by the authorities.

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