From my experience in the Middle East, I suspect that much of the conflict stems from the fact that Muslims are taught that everything Muslim is superior to everything infidel.
It is almost impossible for an infidel to teach a true believer, because they do not believe that a an infidel could possibly know anything that a true believer does not already know.
Every superior achievement of the West is a blatant affront to their religion and thus must be the work of the devil. The World Trade Towers were a standing insult to their god and thus they had to be destroyed.
I was in Turkey when we first set foot on the Moon. Muslims were either in shock or in denial. It was not a happy time in the nation of Islam.
Thanks for the insight.
I do not believe that the Taliban's recent destruction of the towering statues of Buddha was a coincidence, nor do I believe that the recent suicide bombings of innocent women and children in Israel was a coincidence. They were symbols intended to send a message about the nature of the war Islam declared so long ago, and fully intends to complete.
Interesting you should say that. I was with a supposedly Westernized, non-political, moderate Muslim when Challenger exploded. He was so thrilled about this tragedy to an American technological wonder that he could barely contain himself. I couldn't believe what I saw; It turned my stomach.