Comment: This argument makes lot of sense. I am surprised that Saunders left out of his article the attacks in Paris and Brussels. In both cases, you had individuals who have already been to prison for violent crime before the "found" their religious faith or devotion to a violent group. To suggest the ideology is the primary motivator is to oversimplify. The people who went to Syria to fight for (or against) ISIS are likely motived by the thrill of the fight, more than any strict adherence to religious doctrine. Mercenary armies like Blackwater attract such people all the time.