What drives them is their religious leaders.

Its not just their religious leaders, its their leaders in general. The heads of pretty much all middle eastern countries disgust me. There is not a decent individual in that mix. Maybe, MAYBE the King of Jordan, and the President of Afghanistan (errr, Mayor of Kabul). Nothing is every done in the interest of the people.

However, these people have very real issues, and beating them over the head with Democracy is not going to solve their problems. We're constantly being told that they hate our freedom and all this nonsense. I honestly don't believe that is true. The taliban and a few other misguided assholes have massively distorted the image of muslims around the world. These people don't hate our freedom and a Caliphate from Spain to Indonesia is not exactly the number one concern at this point. But constantly saying that this is what we're fighting is a great scare tactic and makes for good copy.