The problem is not militant Islam but militant Islams. Religion has every bit to do with the carnage in the Mid-east. Of course, the Hindu reaction doesn't help though here we have to see that it is more than one militant Hindu faction as well.

As long as American foreign policy is predicated on extirpating all that they don't agree with, they only exacerbate the senseless bloodshed of religious fanaticism from all factions. Iraq and Afghanistan foreign policy at the moment is an exercise in futility.
The only outcome is more of the Hobbesian Trap instigated by an irrational Leviathan.

The Bush propaganda line that Iraq has somehow improved its situation after innocent
civilians have been slaughtered and rendered helpless by meaningless sanctions is risible.
In a sense, Bush has slaughtered as many Iraqis as did Saddam if not more.

There is no responsible response to this mistake except to pull the armed forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan and admit that it was an egregious error that will go down in the history books. Leaving American soldiers there will mean further bloodshed.

After this, an assessment of foreign policy that relies on violence needs to be reexamined
and replaced by a rational approach. This would include understanding (not necessarily supporting) the motives of alien cultures and religions, something that Americans and others such as Great Britain have been unwilling to do.

Stringsinger