"I don't buy the conclusion that "All it takes to be infected is to become acquainted with the Quran and take to heart what it says." If this were true, then all Muslims would automatically become terrorists."
You would be surprised how many Muslims have never read the Quran in their native language. Many of them only hear it read in Arabic and have no idea what it says.
Additionally, only a very small minority have ever read the Haddiths, which make up the meat of Islam. These are the "traditions" which are the transcribed oral history of Muhammad's life and actions. The Haddiths are where the true problem Ali Sina identified lies.
There is a group called Apostates of Islam. From their website:
excerpt:
Who we are:
We are ex-Muslims. Some of us were born and raised in Islam and some of us had converted to Islam at some moment in our lives. We were taught never to question the truth of Islam and to believe in Allah and his messenger with blind faith. We were told that Allah would forgive all sins but the sin of disbelief (Quran 4:48 and 4:116). But we committed the ultimate sin of thinking and questioned the belief that was imposed on us and we came to realize that far from being a religion of truth, Islam is a hoax, it is hallucination of a sick mind and nothing but lies and deceits.
http://www.apostatesofislam.com/
My point is, the idea that a text causes these people to suddenly turn into suicide bombers is BS. There are underlying issues here, with the text serving as a skin-deep cover. Think about it, if this were true, then we've already lost the war on terror. All the Islamic fundies have to do is spread the Koran as widely as possible, and they build up their zombie army. Actually, it's more like the other way around. Our media is influencing Islamic countries more than the Koran is influencing Americans.