Originally Posted by Eric5273

You need to read some history about the reconstruction period after the Civil War.. The KKK murdered tens of thousands, and at one time once assembled an army of over 30,000 men which fought battles against the Union Army. This happened in the 1870s long after the Civil War was over.

President Grant signed the Klu Klux Klan Act which ordered militias to be sent to the Southern states to defeat the Klan, but the result was that the more they fought against them, the more popular the Klan became and the more people joined. In the end, this strategy was a complete failure.

The KKK was far more powerful and far worse than Al-Queda. At its peak, KKK membership was approximately 15% of all American white men.

What lead to a decline in membership and support among the population was when living conditions became better in the South. When living conditions are horrible, people are more likely to listen to and support extremism. When people are generally happy with things, support for extremism dies out. That is the solution for "fighting" terrorism.

Until living conditions for the average person in the Middle East get better and there is peace there, support for the extremists will continue to grow.