[jyl]

Really interesting and tough question. Here;s my two cents.

There have always been and will always be Muslims - Muslim countries and Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries. They are a big part of the world's population. So, how come sometimes there is radical Muslim terrorism and sometimes there is not?

Well, the biggest breeding grounds for radical Muslim terrorism are the Middle East and lately Russia (Chechnya).

These are also the areas where there is the most violent, armed conflict between non-Muslim governments and a Muslim minority. In the Middle East there has of course been the 50 year long war / occupation / intifada (whatever you want to call it) between Israel and the Palestinians. In Russia there is the 10-year war between the Russian government and the independence movement in the Chechnya province (this is definitely a war).

I think this illustrates an important point - radical Muslim terrorism doesn't just happen, it is not inherent that Muslim = terrorist. The terrorism grows from an underlying Muslim vs non-Muslim war, and carries that war to other areas of the world.

If the underlying wars were resolved, I believe the terrorism would fade.
Somehow resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be the single most important goal of US foreign policy (and, since terrorism has come home, domestic policy too). It is incredibly hard - although Clinton came so very close before Arafat backed away - but I think all our might, influence, and billions would have been better spent trying to bring peace to the Israelis and Palestinians, and economic improvement to the Palestinians, than in invading Iraq in search of WMDs, brutal dictators, or whatever is the latest justification for that war.

As for the Chechen terrorism, it is a part of the Russian-Chechyna wars. That situation doesn't get much press here, but it is a serious war - when the Soviet Union broke up, the province of Chechnya tried to also break away from Russia, and the Russian central government wouldn't hear of it. Russian armor and airstrikes against Chechen rebels and civilians, cities laid waste, the whole bit. There have actually been two Chechen wars, 1994-1996 and 1999-present. Estimated civilian deaths are 160,000 to date, estimated Russian military deaths 10,000-25,000 (the Russian government doesn't release casualty numbers), estimated number of Chechen rebel deaths unknown. Given the tendencies of Vladmir Putin, who has pretty much made his political fortune as a hard-liner, I don't see that war being resolved - until Russia has a new government. So Russian soldiers will continue killing Chechen civilians in Chechnya and Chechen terrorists will continue killing Russian civilians in non-Chechenn Russia.