Marchosis, just a couple of things
I agree that extremists and fundamentalists are bad people who spread violence and want to kill non-Muslims.
But I think a couple of clarifications might be useful:
Firstly, the biggest victims of Muslim Extremists have been... wait for it... Muslims.
A simplification of terrorism as "Some Muslims are trying to kill/ enslve all Westerners" is totally wrong and unhelpful to properly understanding the problem.
Most of the groups began as nationalist groups, fighting for regional freedom. Pashtun nationalist, Palestinian nationalists, etc etc.
Most terrorist incident around the world kill more of thier own people than foreign oppressors, because the cause is civil strife. Muslim fundamentalists are no different. Have you heard of terrorists attacking sites in Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan?
Well, in case you didn't know, these countries have majority Muslim populations, and that applies to the victims.
The roots of these problems go back many years, but not all that far.
I don't think it would be too far-fetched to say that if perhaps the west had not colonized and raped the Middle East for a couple centuries, some of todays problems wouldn't exist.
Furethermore, it also might not be too huge a stretch to say that improving domestic stuations might also breed less terrorism.
On this point I'm not solely blaming the American military/Government. The Syrian Gov't, the Taliban, Saddam, the Iranians the Saudi Gov't, they have a whole lot of shit to answer for. Reppression, interracial and intereligious strife: All of this has helped build a culture of violence in the birthplace of civilization.
But the fact that Ameria keeps intervening doesn't really help strife-wise, however justified. And the American military certainly doesn't always possess the moral high ground. If only.
But thats not what this is about.
Now, merely passing this off as a war between the US and Islam (and those who espouse the extremist things it 'really' says) does two very bad things:
1- It misinterprets the problem and doesn't provide any valuable solution. If an entire people hate you vehemently and there is nthing you can do? What is there to do? Bomb all of them?
2- It paints the entire Religion of Islam in one giant hateful stroke. Sure, the Quran contains many passages referring to violence. If you wish, I can scrounge up a couple 'peaceful' quotes from the Quran too. And you know what? I can then do the same thing with the Bible.
Is Christianity an inherently violent thing? I don't really think so, but it sure has been in the past, and pretty close to the present. (Northern Ireland anyone?).
My point is that religion isn't inherently violent, but it is well-suited to justifying violence if conditions are right.
You do a disservice to the vast majority of peaceful and surprisingly progressive Muslims out there, and you further a culture of misunderstanding and hate that continues to harm our world. I respect your opinion, but I vehemently disagree.