I tend to think there are certain types of terrorism that form because of wealth and comfort. I'm thinking here of the various West German groups that came into being during the 1970s and 1980s. Most of the hard-core members came from middle-class backgrounds at least. In some cases there was an element of social guilt at play (why are we so well off while these other people suffer?) but there were other dynamics as well.

It's an interesting question, though. Look at the environmental and anti-G8 activists. Many of them are wealthy, or at least come from comfortable backgrounds. Yet they are one of the prototype trans-national insurgencies (in my view) and have spawned a number of violent terrorist groups. All of them run off pretty brilliant decentralized networks with "group action" mentality and little in the way of an overt chain of command. Again, interesting stuff.