Just wanted to say that I agree with everything else that you said.
Trying to draw parallels between what was a factious split in our Republic and what I hope is a split in Islam.
For better or worse, our own "War of Northern Agression", defined what direction this country would take from that point on.
In the process, more Americans died in that War then in all other U.S. Wars...combined.
Islam needs to define it's direction...in perhaps the same way we did. But for that to happen, there must be strong disagreement within Islam on religous principals, and Muslims with courage to take arms against the evil in their Church. I don't know that such is the case. We shall see.
Er...
The Civil War was fought because the South saw the writing on the wall vis-a-vis slavery. They were just peachy-keen with Federal Authority when it was preotecting their property rights.
States Rights is the mantra on the Neoconfederate mythos. Ever single sessesionist state SPECIFICALLY mentioned the threat to slavery as the cause of their discontent in their articles of seperation.
Anyhooo...that was a long time ago...we is all one happy family now.
The correct example of our Jacksonian tendencies (more accurate than "Bloodthirsty") would be the defeat of Nipponese facism.