Ken King said:
The commonality of the bombers is more directly related to a perception that they share of being dominated by outsiders in what to them is a hopeless struggle for independence. Many with strong religious fanaticism exploit those that feel this way and use religious messages to justify what they do but from what I read of Pape's study it is not a fundamental characteristic of the bomber, it is one of the group that recruits them.
Yes. That was my point earlier about resentment.
As much as I dislike the views of extremist Christians such as the Dominionists, the threat they pose is to our freedom of conscience. The threat posed by extremist Islamists is to our lives and our security.
Still, on some level, I find some reward in knowing that the Islamists are scared of American culture. If they're not careful, they'll end up just like us--eating Big Macs, wearing Mickey Mouse ears, watching the Super Bowl (Yay Steelers!), enjoying freedom of religion and freedom of speech, treating women as full citizens instead of slaves and evil temptations, and most of all, not killing and rioting because of some dumb cartoon.
As Don and Mike put it today, if you're going to riot over a cartoon, it ought to be Family Circus.