They are Muslims. That's a given. But there are a vast range of opinions and attitudes present in a cross-section of the Muslim population throughout the world, just as there are a vast range of opinions and attitudes present in a cross-section of the western European and North American population, most of whom came out of the Christian tradition. Would it be fair to say that "we want Christendom to be in charge" (as if that really means a damn thing)?

Look, if you were born in those countries, kendall, you'd be a Muslim too. So what? They don't all grow horns and have tails, for God's sake. They aren't all Wahabi fundamentalists. They don't think as a single monolith. Being Muslim doesn't mean you can't think independently about politics, education, economic matters, national policy, and all the other normal stuff that people think about and make decisions based upon.

This business of casting all Islamic people as some sort of world threat is nothing more than the sort of crude stereotyping the Nazis used on Jews, leftists, and Gypsies, in my opinion. It's a fear tactic meant to panic the western public into supporting wars of choice against Muslim populations.