People that claim to be in the know, saying that the radical vein of Islam is upset over our foreign policies, and that is why there is this Jihad declared on the "west".
Were that true, Jihad wouldn't be declared on the "west", but it would be declared on the United States. Our commercial sector wouldn't be under attack, our political system would be.
Having seen, and fought against Muslim extremists, and heard their curses and insults, I can tell you that it's not out policies, but our cultural exports (Hollywod, media, pop culture, scantily clad women, and similar ilk). This imagery assaults them on so many levels. I didn't fully understand this when I was over in the sandbox, mostly because I was more worried about completing the mission and coming home alive.
It wasn't until I was back here, and a great friend of mine from Bangladesh explained why his parents were irate with him after a trip back home. He explained that they felt he was becoming too westernized. He was watching action movies, and listening to music that glorified the mistreatment of women, and enjoyed looking at nearly nude, and nude women. Their complaint was that he lost touch with his Muslim roots, and became nothing more than a western pig.
He sill loves his music, and naked women. I can see, and understand his parental complaints. Our society has gotten rather out of hand in some respects. We do treat women as objects, not people. We do glorify drugs, and alchol abuse. We do bash cultures that we don't understand.
It just pisses me off that people cannot recognize that this is a war of cultures, not policies. I don't see our culture changing, nor do I see theirs.