I must disagree. As bin Laden has indicated on more than one ocassion, his goal is Mecca. He wants to be at the center of Islam and overseeing an Islamic empire. It's more than just hatred of America and our way of life. He has geopolitical goals, not just a series of terrorist actions from time to time to demonstrate his hatred. No, once Iraq falls (which a Kerry administration could cause), Saudi Arabia will be next. With all the oil in the region in Islamic fundamentalist hands, what is next? Of course, Pakistan with its nuclear weapons. At that point bin Laden's Islamic empire will be an economic and military power. Syria and Iran will, of course, follow the fundamentalists, leaving Egypt and a handful of other moderate states, virtually powerless against this juggernaut.
Moderate Islam is almost a joke. They stay quiet and make no statements condemning the fundamentalists. They will put up no fight. Lehman is absolutely correct, and until the Western world understands, they will continue to make inroads into their ultimate goal. Yes, this is a religious war, but we fail miserably in recognizing it.
I agree, those may be Bin Ladens' goals, but I don't believe they are the goals of Islam...perhaps, if he was it's leader, he would say they were.
I think one of the reasons that Muslims are quiet, is that they believe all that happens is the will of God...and who are they to question the will of God? I may very well be wrong, as I am not a Muslim, but this is the way it looks to me.
I really don't think there is such a thing as a religious war, as religions are created by man. These wars, that are referred to as religious wars, are waged by men that want something, and one of their weapons is religious zealotry.