Rationally predicting that N people will try to do terrible things is definitely not the same as condoning the people who have done terrible things [aside: this emotive conflation may partly explain why western media are serially unable to analyze or reflect on the root causes of terrible events].<p>Predicting that the civil wars in Iraq and Syria would give a fertile ground for extremism to develop is no leap, and certainly doesn&#x27;t condone it, and focusing on the guilt of specific extremists in each case won&#x27;t teach us anything either.