amateurs on here routinely get the entire cast of characters jumbled to varying degrees. I have no desire to do a detailed historical sketch on each member, but suffice it to say that there are several groups of antagonists.... sunnis hate shiites.... arabs hate persians... wahabbists hate baathists and secular pan-arabists, and they all, for the most part, hate Israel. Besides their varying layers of antagonism, they also have an equally complex set of goals and objectives. Hamas does not share a vision with Al Qaeda.... arab nationalism has little in common with the regional vision of wahabbism other than their fervent desire to see Jews out of the Holy Lands.

It is also a clear mistake to think that America is the ultimate target for Al Qaeda and other groups who espouse radically extreme wahabbism or Qtubism. We are an object of the wrath, to be sure...but our involvement is only seen as a means to an end...which is the uprising of muslims throughout the MIDDLE EAST (not the entire world) to cast out the secular corrupt nationalist political entities and form a regional caliphate that closely resembles in geography the boundaries of Islam at its greatest reach and zenith of influence. No one in any radical islamic group envisions an Islamis America.... we are out of the picture in the long run...we were only attacked for the dual purpose of (1)paying us back for supporting Israel and the corrupt Saudi royals and defiling the Muslim Holy lands with infidel troops in the First Gulf War. and (2) raising the anger at all things western and christian and secular in the people in the Islamic "street". By not understanding the players and by not understanding which ones are our real enemies and which ones just don't like us very much, we put ourselves in greater peril. To assume that the vast majority of muslims, here and abroad, hate America and are actively seeking our destruction will dilute our defenses.

For example: we were attacked on 9/11 by a group of wahabbists from Saudi Arabia.... and I completely applauded our action in attempting to uproot them and destroy them in Afghanistan which was, after all, their base. Following that ineffective effort with a full scale attack on a secular baathist regime in Iraq was inexplicable without the deceptions of WMD's and Al Qaeda connections which did not exist.

Saddam was, in fact, a total asshole, but the world is full of assholes running countries (some may say that our own country might very well be on that list, but I digress) We need to keep our eye on our enemies...and THEY are NOT and were NOT Iraqi baathists...
and they most certainly are not American muslims...

If we really want to convince arabs and muslims to stop killing us, we must figure out a more effective strategy than killing muslims indiscriminantly unless we are prepared to kill them ALL.