[DB]

"The difference between the occupation of Palestine and of the West is that in Palestine the occupation is mechanical and military, whereas the occupation of the West is an occupation of values, of mind, of ideology and of culture."

He comes out and says it, the problem with the West "is an occupation of values, of mind, of ideology and of culture.". There's the root of the culture war between us. And interestingly, much of our Western values do come from Judaeo/Christian tradition. And I'm not parting with them.

[cdrw]

Yes - they consider our very presence, existence, and influence on the world to be an act of war against Islam. To a culture that covers their women from head to toe, a typical western woman walking down the hall at work is an affront, a pollution of their children's minds, and a denial of their religion which, unlike in the west, is inseparable from their law and government. Our existence is an assault on their culture. It has nothing to do with support for Israel or troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the arrested perps in the recent south east asian bombings was quoted as saying that bikini clad Australians were, by their presence, conducting cultural terrorism against the local Muslims. The logical extension was that they were military targets and fair game for slaughter.

Bernard Lewis has described the roots of this well. Islam in its purest form is incapable of coexistence with the rest of the world.