"The simplest explanation is always preferable. In my view, we are not at war with Islam but with a series of Islamo-Facist states in the Arabian peninsula. We have relatively decent relations with several non-Arabic Moslem states such as Indonesia."
Absolutely.
While 80% of Arabs are Muslims, 80% of Muslims are not Arabs. Yet 90% of the world's troubles with Islamic radicals occur in Arabic countries.
I don't accept any theory which has at its core the words "them" or "they", and fails to draw distinctions between radicals, moderates, or secular Muslims.
Lumping all Muslims under a "they" categorization plays into what I believe to be bin Laden's hand.
I think this is why when the Iranian shiites held those American hostages, they didn't slaughter them, they are a different people. Iranians and Turks had a better religion before Islam was imposed on them by the Arabs and still have those Zoroasterism influences which moderate them somewhat. Islam is an Arab religion, that's where it originates and where it is practiced in it's most pure form.