" Agreed on both your points but let me go a little further. They do not care whether we live or die but they want a super Islamic state or what is also known as the 'caliphate'. In my opinion, they do not feel we can destroy all of them nor them all of us. Instead, a nuke or two going off here in the USA gets us out of the ME and focused on rebuilding our country. Meanwhile, they establish the caliphate, attack and attempt to destroy Israel and conquer neighboring oil states with Russia's blessing. We had better start building strong civilian defense and our own energy supply. That is how we can survice and destroy our enemies."
I am not going to disagree with anything you said. I believe you are correct regarding the vast majority of our enemy. I have sometimes wondered if Bin Laden, maybe a couple others, really believe in Islam, or if they just found it a convenient way to get what they want...to cause others a lot of grief and gain power in the process.
But that said, most do want the "caliphate".
"I am not going to disagree with anything you said. I believe you are correct regarding the vast majority of our enemy. I have sometimes wondered if Bin Laden, maybe a couple others, really believe in Islam, or if they just found it a convenient way to get what they want...to cause others a lot of grief and gain power in the process.
But that said, most do want the "caliphate"."
I think a lot of the hatred of the West comes from Zhawahiri then Bin Laden himself. Igniting a war is Bin Laden's way of trying to get us out of the ME. It's a pride issue. Funny how he was a US ally against the Soviets but then turned on us when we refused to pull troops out of Saudi Arabia in 1991 after the gulf war. He does appear to live the true version of Islam in the strictest form, unlike mullahs in Iran or the Palestinian leadership that enjoy many Western comforts and lifestyles.