There probably aren't too many Saudi type madrassas in Syria. Think of Asad as a slightly gentler Saddam Hussein (mostly secular). In fact The Baath party of Syria tries to keep muslim extremism down as the rulers of Syria are Allawites, who are a minority (again, similar to Iraq under Saddam, but even more so). There was an attempted revolution by the muslims against the elder Asad who responded ruthlessly but destroying the cities of Homs and Hama.
Back to this article, it's interesting how Democrats think of their party as the party of scientific progress just because they don't feel they have to think about moral ethics in science. However, they're the first ones to use non-scientific methods to scare the population half to death about their favorite agenda items (global warming, the environment, endangered species, socialism...).
We should think about another source of hatred for America that is related to their religious conservative outlook. A pervasive image of America comes from Hollywood, and that image is one that is pretty twisted and distorted and in particular spits upon religiosity Christian or Islamic.
I don't know how we crack that nut.
Talk to a devout Muslim about Clinton. Our toleration of Clintons behavior in office is one of the big arguments of Americas irredeemable decadence.