That's probably why they inhabit those places, it's the perfect spot where a cult can be brainwashed into generation after generation, without the worry of more advanced civilizations showing those held captive by it, the truth- or rather, the errors- of it's "scripture".
The fact that technology will eventually reach even the most illiterate and brainwashed muslim, dwelling in the most remote corners of the Saudi desert, (where they still believe they must kill the goat after having sex with it, or sell it to the tribe down the camel trail) is the reason why Islam's mental Mullah's are trying as hard as they can to manifest a war of civilizations. They will never have another chance.
Islam's faithful are going to decline and eventually fade to nothing, like all other rock worship has.
And the clerics know it. They can only try to rule by fear. Terrorism might be seen as the last ghasp of a dying death cult:
Preserving The Islamic Identity in The West Threats & Solutions Nida'ul Islam magazine ^ | April-May 1997 | Br. Amir Abdullah
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769802/posts