I'm now approaching retirement age and these outrages have been going on since I was at school.  Under one pretext or another they can always find a link to "the West" and unleash another series of atrocities on innocent people. 

I also remember a series of radio programs called "The Failure of Islam" in which several Islamic historians, economists and philosophers gave their explanations of why "the West" was scape-goated and dragged into what is basically a Middle Eastern problem.  It was many years ago now and I admit I don't remember the details but all the participants agreed that the real reason behind decades of terrorism is the same.

The wealth created by the wests dependence on Middle Eastern oil is in the hands of a few royal families and dictators.  Meanwhile millions of ordinary Muslims live in poverty.  In many areas their way of life has changed little since Koranic times, and neither has their mind-set.  What also stood out to me was that many of the educated Muslims who gave their views were either from the west or Asia (where there are more Muslims than in the Middle East) and they could clearly see why Islam has failed and why it is Middle Eastern Muslims who are mostly responsible for the terrorism.

Put simply it is that the Middle Eastern rulers are playing the divide and rule game.  The internal divisions of Islam are exploited and the West held up as a Satanic threat to divert attention from themselves.  While they continue to succeed nothing will change.  Western leaders play along with this charade, those in power in the area are kow-towed to because they mostly keep the oil flowing.  While at the same time those same rulers portray the West as the ones exploiting the poor stoking their anger against us.

If terrorism is to be stopped it is the regions rulers or their mind-set that have to be changed.  They are causing the hatred of the West and benefiting from it.  While they continue to do so with impunity they are not going to change a winning formula and the daily carnage in the region and terrorism on our streets will continue.