[Modernman]

Was the DC sniper a genuine Muslim or an NOI member?

I don't know what type of Muslim he was. AFAIK, the sniper had no ties to any group. That's sort of scary- he was essentially a freelance jihadi.

[AmishDude]

Isn't that the problem? It isn't like the groups have a copyrighted logo or anything. The loudest and most shrill Islamic voices get heard. All others get ignored. They run the Islamic world and the rest are either cowed or in some way sympathetic.

It goes to the Islamic mindset. In the Muslim version of end-times, the world will have been converted (in Mohammed's view, by the sword) until the pagan religions are wiped out and the world is happily Muslim.

This is why you hear so much equivocation about Israel. "Yes, a child may have been sent to blow himself up in a marketplace, but Israel jailed a jihadi merely because he had weapons and plans to kill thousands of people."

Even the most moderate Muslim (assuming we're talking about a genuine Muslim and not one who comes West so he doesn't have to practice Islam anymore) sees the end-times in this way. So the Israelis (and Spaniards and Slavic Christians) are the worst of infidels because they caused Islam to retreat from its divine destiny.

It's in the mindset even if they aren't particularly Muslim or the slightest bit militant. The irony is that the Wahabbists are elitist and somewhat outside this view because they view most Muslims as not Muslim enough. But I guess they will be re-converted in time.

Scar, here's my version of long-windedness.