I think that this puts a little too simplistic a point on it. In particular, I have objections with referring to it as an inferiority complex.

Even with my qualification that I *was* oversimplifying, I had reservations about using that term (but I was trying to stay under 3000 words). So, I accept your objection. When I typed it, I figured we'd get to talk about it.

I think it's more akin to frustration. The Arab world has a very distinct culture from the ``Western'' world, and I think that they have a hard time interspersing western culture into their own, at least a much harder time than Japan, Hong Kong, or Singapore, for instance. If that hard time comes from incompatibility, incapability, or unwillingness, I don't know, but it seems to exist nonetheless. Combine that with what seems to be an inability to deal with the ``western'' world (and, therefore, these days, the rest of the world) on anything but it's own terms (again, whether due to incompatibility or unwillingness on either party's part), and I think you find a culture that becomes more and more isolated, with one hand wanting to deal with the rest of the world, and the other busy slapping it away because it's been burned so many times already.

I've posted it before, but you may not have seen it: Newsweek ran quite a long article on ``Why Do They Hate Us'', by Fareed Zakaria, that I think has a reasonable explanation for that, which I've tried to paraphrase above.

I read that when you posted it earlier and agree that it was a good analysis. Also not too divergent, I don't think, from much of what Lewis had to say in his book (essays entitled "The Roots of Muslim Rage" that went into the book are on-line here ).

When Lewis fleshed those essays out, though, into his small book, he took a more provocative stance and title ("What Went Wrong?") and spent more time dwelling on the question of why the Muslim world -- once the pinnacle of science, economy, etc. -- fell behind in many areas. I'm going to have to re-read it, because in part I almost get the creeps talking/posting about it when I fear misinterpreting him or lapsing into near-racist generalization. My take-home, though, was that there are a lot of Muslims experiencing conflicting feelings of correctness/rightness (and I guess state-aligned religion in a place like Saudi Arabia is one expression of that) along with insecurity and dependency (dependence on foreign workers in Saudi being another example of an ambivalence "need but resent" phenomenon) and frustration.

Leaving aside political constructs like the Saudi royal family and focusing more on a "man-in-the-street" view (oh, like I'm an expert or have ever been there) -- the guy who said he used to think the US was a just nation for example -- the term that I see applied in analyses is "humilation". On the street, people have been successively humiliated by Ottomans, by European imperial powers (England, France), by Israel (several wars) and by their own corrupt leaders. If "inferiority complex" is not a legitimate handle, I would say that the combination of frustrations and humiiations are not likely to improve collective self-esteem. Where do very broadly held "The Mossad was behind 9/11" delusions gestate?

Anyhow, into all of this, we righteous Crusaders of the US of A march into Iraq. And "humiliating" is again heard from more than one acute reporter, ambassador, and by other seemingly thoughtful, sympathetic observers. This rings true to me. I have to ask, is this what the administration is aiming for?