The root is Islam. What is Islam? Yes, it is a religion, but more than that...it is a political blueprint for world domination. So, the whole world is Islamic territory. All of it. And there are parts of the Middle East that the terrorists would say was occupied by foreigners, and I'm not talking Israel or Iraq.
They were given a very clear mandate in the Qu'ran to dominate and not be dominated. Yet, they are being dominated. So, they cling harder the to Qu'ran and its message and fight with more determination against that occupation. That is what drives them.
It is easy to glibly say they resent us because we occupy their land... to do so misses the whole point of the conflict.
Are you saying that these people don't consider themselves to be committing suicide? Because that's entirely incorrect. They know exactly what they're doing, what effect it will have, and why.
The root is Islam. What is Islam? Yes, it is a religion, but more than that...it is a political blueprint for world domination. So, the whole world is Islamic territory. All of it.
The whole world is not Islamic territory, under the concepts laid out in Islamic law. There is the Dar al Salaam, which is the House of Peace. Those are lands that are Islamic, or have been otherwise conquered or populated by Muslims. Then, there is the Dar al Harb, the House of War. That's pretty much everywhere else. While the goal of Islam is ultimately to spread across the world and make everything the Dar al Salaam, that's by no means already happened. Even hard core fanatics like bin Laden don't think that.
One day, the whole world will be Islamic territory, but even they don't think so yet.
They were given a very clear mandate in the Qu'ran to dominate and not be dominated. Yet, they are being dominated. So, they cling harder the to Qu'ran and its message and fight with more determination against that occupation. That is what drives them.
That's fine, but you could easily change 'in the Qu'ran' to read 'by the Emperor' and make this a statement about kamikaze pilots. It's still a fanatic-based response triggered by a territorial threat.
The Qu'ran isn't a book that people read, and then go crazy. They're still people, with normal human instincts and human nature at the helm. Their religious beliefs make them susceptible to act in monstrous ways, but these actions are by no means alien or incomprehensible.
It is easy to glibly say they resent us because we occupy their land... to do so misses the whole point of the conflict.
If you ask them, there's nothing glib about it. They're serious enough to get behind the wheel of a jihadist lowrider that's been on MTV's "VBIED my ride" and hit the streets. That may require a fanatical mindset, but you're not going to hear "BANZAI!" until you're in their backyard.