I saw this posted at another site:

“People have a tendency to believe what they want to believe, and man of us want to believe that evil does not exist - that for every act, no matter how despicable, there must be a legitimate reason. Even those who accept evil at the individual level (i.e. serial killers, Bernie Madoff, etc) cannot bring themselves to believe that an entire group, or even a culture or a sect of a religion can be evil.

If the Nazis committed atrocities, it’s not because they were evil or arose from a culture of evil manipulated by a charismatic sociopath - they were simply twisted. In this view, the Nazis committed their atrocities in response to the unfair treatment of Germany after World War I. Pol Pot cannibalized his own country not because of an evil ideology spurred from a deranged culture, but rather in response to the brutalities of Cold War American imperialism. If the Confederates fought to the death for their right to maintain the practice of slavery - they were simply heroic individuals trying to preserve their traditional way of life in response to the imperialist Union’s war of aggression against their sovereignty and dignity.

This line of thinking is understandable, and usually well-intentioned, but it is often dead wrong, and more often than not adhered to by sheltered individuals and people who believe that the evildoers are supposedly fighting in the name of a cause they can identify with, even if they disagree with the methods.

Root causes. Most of the time there is a root cause, but sometimes the truth is as simple as it inconceivable to the decent majority of humanity. Because most of us are good people, we put ourselves into the shoes of others and assume that fundamentally they are good as well. But a decent person often cannot comprehend the root cause of evil, much like no one can comprehend the square root of zero.

Wahhabism is an evil religion, which has spawned a network of evil, nihilistic, death worshipping movements and ideologies. Chief among these is the al-Qaeda movement, which has, like its spiritual antecedent in Nazi Germany, effectively declared war on civilization itself. There have been religious death cults in the past, and no religion is immune to their perversions. The Aum Shinrikyo cult which tried to murder thousands of Japanese civilians was dressed in the clothing of Buddhism, and even visited by the Dalai Llama. The Thugees who terrorized India were a Hindu sect. The suicidal Templars who rampaged through the Muslim world, committed innumerable atrocities, and made the City of Peace flow with blood were a Christian movement. But all of these death cults were localized. Wahhabism and the network of jihadist movements it spawned have global reach. And though they primarily prey on their fellow Muslims, they are capable of striking anywhere, their finances are without limit, and though they represent only a fraction of the Muslim world, their numbers and supporters are legion.

Intelligent and decent people can agree and disagree on how to confront this evil. But it’s a tragedy that - as of this point in history - too many people are unwilling and/or unable to see this evil for what it really is. As radical Islam’s atrocities mount, more and more people will come to understand what we - including most Muslims - are up against. This woman’s use of raped women in suicide terrorism against innocents is just another chip in the facade of radical Islam’s supposed legitimate grievances and “understandable motivations”. Horrific as this is, every atrocity forces more and more people to take off their blinders. But I fear that before the collective delusions of radical Islam’s supposed motivations have died, we - especially the Muslim world - will have endured far more death and destruction and inhumanity that could have otherwise been avoided.”