Not specifically about any of this, but indirectly about all of it; if you get the chance read or listen to "Children of Jihad" by Jared Cohen. Great insights from the recent solo travels of a young American jewish man to meet and learn about young Muslims in several of the most heated areas of the Middle East.

Will agree with WILF that it is not about religion. He boils it down to "blood and land," and certainly that is always involved. I boil it down to one word: Respect.

Respect is a complicated emotion, toward the top of Maslow's heirarchy, but it is the one I believe that is most likely to drive men to a very committed form of conflict. From individual duals, to the American Revolution, to much of the Muslim strife in the world today. We may not know ####-all about Islam, but we all understand respect. Focusing on understanding the respect-based issues of the region and attempting to address them first would in my mind be a wise strategic sea change of approach.