"people just aren't as happy to see Westerners as they used to be"

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/07/robertson.sept11/

Robertson: Al Qaeda slicker even with bin Laden out of sight
By Nic Robertson
CNN

<snip>

That's how it was when I got off the plane here. I know the Pakistanis. I know how warm and friendly they are. A few months ago I brought my wife and daughters here for a wedding. It was a wonderful experience they'll never forget. But the fact is, people just aren't as happy to see Westerners as they used to be. We come with baggage.

Ask anyone why and they'll tell you, "your government, Mr. Blair," or sometimes they think I'm American, "Mr. Bush is against Muslims." Why else, their argument goes, would your soldiers kill Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan?

I heard the same thing in London this summer and last. "We are angry," hard-line Islamists told me, "with the British government's foreign policy, putting British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan."

These young men see themselves as Muslim first, British second. They listen to al Qaeda's messages, watch tapes of Osama bin Laden and cheer at the 9/11 attack. Their views are some of the most radical I've come across since I used to meet with the Taliban.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. What the heck is the deal

with radical fundamentalism ON BOTH SIDES?

Why now? Is it the planets or something?

You know, in my lifetime I've seen a lot of stuff but never thought I'd see this.