In looking at the current situation that exists between the Middle East and the United States, there are certain "analysts" who boil down the entire problem to one essential: Islam is a religion of evil, and is completely incompatible with civilization. I know, it is a nice theory isn't it? Although this "Evil Islam" theory is extremely well thought out, rational, and nuanced, there might indeed by other ways of looking at the causes of terrorism and violence that are so prevalent in the Middle East. Let's use Iraq as an example...
World War One, the first war to end all wars, resulted in the defeat of the Ottoman Turks, among other things. Iraq had been a part of the former Ottoman Empire, but became a British mandate after the war. That basically means that the British ran the show in Iraq. Interestingly, the British mandate was peopled with three separate groups that didn't get along too well: the Kurds, the Sunnis, and the Shiites. They were jammed into a single politcal entity and expected to "get along" and share an arbitrary identity. In 1932 Iraq was "granted" independence, and was also granted a British-installed monarchy. That went swimmingly, until 1958, when there was a coup, in which the Iraqi army forcibly took over. Ironically, the government was called a republic. In reality, it was ruled by a series of military "strongmen," or to use more normal English, dictators.
In 1968 the Socialist Ba'ath Party took control in what has been termed a "bloodless coup." Not to worry: there was plenty of blood after the coup, as anyone who was a problem for the Ba'ath government was purged. Saddam Hussein eventually took control. Hussein was responsible for heavily militarizing the Ba'ath goverment, and even made the whole wearing-military-uniforms-all-the-time-thing very popular. He also murdered a lot of people. In 1979 Hussein assumed the presidency of Iraq, and used to old tactic of killing all of his oppenents to do so. Peace loving man that he was.
That was the same year that the Ayatolla took over in Iran via a very violent and radical revolution. So that left two murderous leaders living side by side. Interestingly, one was secular (Hussein) and the other was a fundamentalist Muslim radical. Great. Needless to say, Hussein and the Ayatolla didnt really get along too well.
That relationship erupted into a brutal eight year war, which was originally ignited by territorial squabbles. Not too many leaders around the world really like Hussein, but they figured he was better than the Ayatolla, so they helped out Iraq to a certain extent. France, Russia, and even the US helped Hussein, in hopes that he would be able to defeat the Iranian leader, in essence doing the job for them.
All the while Hussein was generally being a brutal dictator, doing what brutal dictators do. His people had to endure not only an eight year war with their neighbors, but they also had to try to survive while living under Hussein. Times were not so good in Iraq, at least for the people.
The long war ended in a stalemate. Neither Iran nor Iraq won, but they both had the shit kicked out of them. Hussein had drained his economy during the war, since tanks and missiles and weapons are pretty costly. It might be assumed that his military spending might have adversely affected the people of Iraq. So, anyways, Hussein decided that he might be able to recoup some dough by invading and taking over the rich little nation of Kuwait.
The only problem with that whole plan was the fact that it pissed off a good portion of the world's nations, and namely the United States. Hussein was swept out of Kuwait in the first Gulf War. Then US President George HW Bush decided that he didnt want to take out Saddam at that time, for a number of reasons. Namely, Bush didnt quite want to get stuck dealing with the aftermath at that point. So the Americans and their allies pulled out. Hussein, being a murderer, killed thousands of people in southern Iraq who had fought against him.
For the next 12 or so years, Iraq was put under UN Sanctions which were aimed at keeping Hussein in check. They didnt really work, since Saddam just bled his people dry, engaged in corrupt dealings, and continued to talk trash against the United States and its allies. Saddam was doing pretty well, and the people of Iraq were basically living in an oppressive hell.
In 2001 9/11 happened, and the game changed. Certain people decided that enough was enough, and that it was time to deal with the likes of Hussein, and others, in light of that atrocity. In 2003 the US and its allies invaded Iraq once again, and ultimately Hussein was defeated. There was indeed a power vacuum, as US forces had to deal with an incredibly chaotic state of affairs. There were, and continue to be, many internal conflicts in Iraq, as rival groups sought power and control.
Years of warfare, brutal leadership, corruption, and crime had decimated Iraq. This was the situation into which US forces walked. There were bitter rivalries between different ethnic and religious groups, including the Kurds, the Sunnis, and the Shiites. Hussein had favored the Sunnis, and treated the Kurds and the Shiites like hell. In the fight for power brutal terrorist tactics were employed by some radical groups, which made the entire fiasco even worse.
This is what the US military is dealing with at present. The above sketch of the more recent history of Iraq is admittedly short and lacking detail. But the general outline is there, and the overall picture should be pretty apparent. I tried not to make too many value judgements, but there are probably some in there regardless. Any hints of sarcasm are purely coincidental.
As I stated in the beginning, this is just another way of looking at the situation in the Middle East, and employs the political history of Iraq as a case study. It is terribly simplified, and certainly will have a difficult time holding up to the brilliant "Evil Islam" theory, naturally. But it was worth a shot.
In the end it just depends on how you want to look at things. Some people choose to look at all of the above and say that the inherent evil nature of Islam is the ultimate cause. Other people might read the above and think, hell, I'll bet there's a lot more to it than that. Personally think that the brutal dictator who ruled for 24 or so years, and the 3 wars, oppression, murder, and crime might have created the violent and terrorist ridden Iraq that we are dealing with today. Undoubtedly, radical Islamists have played a role, in my opinion, of adding plenty of fuel to the fire, but I wouldn't say that they, or their religion, provide a satisfactory explanation for the current state of affairs in Iraq, or the Middle East at large. But what do I know?