BB - The point I was making was that, yes, the majority of Muslims DID want to mondernize and liberalize their societies several decades back...and they were enthusiastically trying to do so. The fundamentalists did not have much influence at all at that time. They later gained influence precisely because of the destabilization of those societies caused by western-backed coups (such as the one in Iran that overthrew their elected government in the 50's), western-backed dictators (who were backed usually because they were "anti-communist" and because they played ball with the oil companies), and western-financed wars...plus the ongong troubles with Israel, also seen as backed by the USA.

But the biggest push Islamic fundamentalism ever got was when Reagan's admininstration hunted up every crazy Islamic fanatic they could find and armed and trained them to fight the Russians in Afghanistan. Those were the Mujahedin, the forerunners of the Taliban and Al Queda. The Pakistani government was very worried about it at the time and warned the USA through their military intelligence people that Reagan's policy was creating "a Frankenstein monster" that would come back later to haunt them. And so it has, with a vengeance.

Without the irresponsible behaviour of the West which has destabilized Islamic nations and alienated their public in the last few decades, and which has armed, trained, and organized cells of Islamic Jihadists to kill Russians, you would not have had the successful rise of this militant form of Islamic fundamentalism. You would, on the contrary, have had the rise of fledgling democracies and modernization in many of those countries instead. The many Islamic people I know who came to Canada came here precisely because they wanted to live in a place that has democracy, prosperity, peace, and a modern lifestyle, and they wanted to live without fear of being attacked by someone. There are millions like them still living in their countries who desire the very same things.