Sorry, md55, but Turkey is the exception rather than the rule. You can thank K'mal Attaturk for the rise of a secular state in his effort to westernize the bankrupt and senescent heart of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey stands pretty much alone as a semi democratic state among Muslim countries - and it stands that way because the Army is always prepared to bring down any civil administration which threatens to return Turkey to an Islamic state.
While your family's historical credentials are impressive, permit the question: What remains of the historically great Jewish communities of Damascus, Baghdad, Alexandria, Cairo? How are the Christian communities faring in Islamic countries? Permit a quick answer to my own question - Muslim countries are now substantiall Judenrein, free of Jews, and the Christian minorities, though afraid to speak, are terribly oppressed by their neighbors. It is therefore somewhat distressing to see you compare democratic states with fascist totalitarian societies and equate them by saying each has its fanatics.
No one is saying all Muslims are bad, but if you don't see that the distribution of normative values in some societies condone and applaud murder, genocide, and the oppression of religious minorities then md55, I think you're looking at the world as you wish it were as opposed to how it is.
