Fundementalist Islam is the expression of the Medieval world in the world of today. They are a totally lost, totally out of place and very threatened people. The ironic thing is that Saddam was polar opposite of them and opposed them tyranically. The Baath movement wants to bring the Arabs into the modern world as a unified socialist nation. Women had more rights in Iraq than any other Arab nation, for example. Saddam was a counter weight in that region to Wahhabism. The whole idea of a connection between the two ideaologies is ridiculous. Our real problem is in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, both states being a danger to our national security and both Sunni states were Wahhabism has millions of followers.

I saw an interesting interview on MSNBC this evening - it seems to dovetail what you are saying. The commentator, an Arab professor of some sort, said we are missing the purpose of the capture and beheading of the American. Al-queda gains more mileage by showing the Saudi populace that the Saudi government will come to the aid of the infidel being beheaded. In the twisted logic of Saudi Arabia, the infidel deserves getting beheaded as a matter of course - thats not even arguable to a typical Saudi. The real argument is whether a muslim should come to save him. The professor said it was no accident the man was beheaded, and the al-Queda operative was captured and killed shortly after. The Saudis probably new where he was and probably could have saved him, but they had to let him die to save their own asses. Once the Christian was dead, they were free to kill the muslim for some other reason, if they could find one, like "resisting arrest" here in the states. This is a seriously, seriously f***ked up society. We are dancing a dance of death with them.