Meanwhile, Christians and Jews -- people to whom Moslems are supposed to feel superior -- have left the Islamic world completely in the shadows when it comes to achievements. Violence has become the only way of moving out of those shadows.
The question is not whether Islam is a religion of war or peace or -- more likely -- has doctrines that can be quoted either way, as Christian doctrines have been adapted to both. Islam is more than a religion, it is a civilization -- a civilization once brightly shining with achievements but now in eclipse.
Few peoples anywhere have taken such historic reversals of fortunes graciously. To be ruled by people you once conquered and disdained has not set well with Poles or Central Asians. Why would Moslems be expected to be the first to accept such reversals quietly?
Perhaps the reason the Islamic states in the Middle East have such a hard time living at peace with Israel is that they would have a hard time living at peace with themselves, when there is a very different, and far more advanced, country in their midst as a constant reproach to their backwardness by its very existence and a constant mockery to their pretensions of superiority.
Meanwhile, back in the United States, there are people so preoccupied with being one-up on other Americans that they are quick to seize opportunities to blame their own country for the ages-old ills of the human race. During the Vietnam War, some of these people even cheered for the Communists in Southeast Asia, who killed more people after the war was over than had been killed in years of military conflict.
Maybe we cannot do much about how other people think -- except not let their confusion become ours. We can also let them know that we plan to retaliate big time if their thoughts turn into bloody actions against Americans.