Islam 101 (from 2020 Hindsight) – NY Times: The Big Terrible Thomas L. Friedman is in Jordan, and covers things from that perspective. [via New Media Musings] The article has Jordan's King Abdullah's perspective on what the terrorists want:
On Sunday I interviewed Jordan's King Abdullah, one of America's real friends. He had three wise messages: We can win if you Americans don't forget who you are. “….The terrorists actually want to provoke attacks on Arabs or Muslims in the U.S., because if the American communities start going after each other, if we see America fragment, then you destroy that special thing that America stands for. That's what the terrorists want — they want to be able to turn to your friends here and say, 'Look, this is all a myth.'”