re the OP Richard's second post

Date: 11 Aug 10 - 07:52 AM

'My suspicion was that in so many western eyes the whole of Pakistan has been tarred as terrorist'

I think this also has some validity

In the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks, top US officials reportedly told a group of Indian CEOs that Washington recongnises Pakistan as "hot bed of terrorism which needs to be controlled".
The delegation met Jim Steinberg, the Deputy Secretary of State at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of State Department.
At the White House they also met Lawrence Summers, Director of the National Economic Council and Michael Froman, Deputy Assistant to the US President Barack Obama and Deputy National Security Adviser.

John L. Esposito, Professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown University poses the question in Tuesday's Huffington Post

Islamophobia: A Threat to American Values?

"The legacy of the 9/11 and post 9/11 terrorist attacks has been exploited by media commentators, hard-line Christian Zionists and political candidates whose fear-mongering targets Islam and Muslims. Islamophobia is fast becoming for Muslims what anti-Semitism is for Jews.
Rooted in hostility and intolerance towards religious and cultural beliefs and a religious or racial group, it threatens the democratic fabric of American and European societies.
Like anti-Semites and racists, Islamophobes are the first to protest that their stereotyping and scapegoating of these "others" as a threat to all of us, incapable of integration or loyalty, are not Islamophobic.

There is no lack of hate speech in the media and in print to empower Islamophobia. The media, whose primary driver is sales and circulations, caters to explosive, headline events

Political and religious commentators write and speak out publicly about Islam and Muslims, asserting with impunity what would never appear in mainstream broadcast or print media about Jews, Christians and other established ethnic groups. If one takes out the word "Muslim" and substitutes "Jew" or "Catholic" in many of the articles targeting Muslims, the negative public reaction would be monumental"