Canoneer; I disagree that the average Muslim is necessarily infidel-hating. I saw lots of average Muslims in Afghanistan and spoke with many of them. While they have an innate distrust of outsiders in general and infidels in particular, that aversion can be turned in short order when they see us working in concert with themselves for their own ends.

There are a great many who are the equivalent of redneck racists in the 60′s. Don’t think that you could walk into any Afghan village by yourself without getting the same treatment Medgar Evans did, but it wasn’t the average southerner who killed civil rights activists; just like the average Afghan wouldn’t kill you just because. You will find enough who will, though.

That’s why we travelled in heavily armed groups. There were many many many times and many many villages that I was the only American in, though. I could do that because the Afghans I was with were not the redneck Afghan infidel-hating racists, nor would they let them have me.

I’m not under any illusions that they weren’t asked from time to time.

We have to stop painting with such broad brushes.