[matrix_dweller]

Texan,

I completely agree that radical Islam is part of the mix. I am not a fan of Islam, at all, having seen first hand the results in Bosnia and Kosovo. It's interesting that Serbs, Columbians and Macedonians are not now, nor were they ever on the "short list" of suspects put out by the media. They're Christians, or agnostic / aetheists, like much of the west. Either way, the suicide bomber is a foreign concept outside of Islam, or Japan. Although now that they've been westernized, I don't see to many kamakazi's protesting our bases in Okinawa or Japan. So, yes, Islam, at least in the radical form found in poorer Islamic countries, is part of the problem. There is something else in the mix, and we have a good "control" to validate our thought experiment.

None of the "stan" former Soviet Islamic countries have given us any problems. They are poor, largley Muslim, and have suicide bombers (viz. - Chechnya). Could it be that since we never dared bomb them during their time in the Soviet Union, they have no motivation to suicide bomb us? Agree or not, I appreciate you taking the time to make a fact based argument.

[Proud_texan]

Matrix - I would only offer that perhaps one of the reason those factions aren't in the mix is that 1) they're occupied with more immediate, local issues and they 2) don't have the capacity/organization/finances at present but again, I'm in the area of pure speculation and conjecture.

A good discussion and I thank you for it but I'll remain convinced that it is motivated more or as much about who we are rather than what we've done. But that brings up another question. At this point do we cut our support of our allies in the region?