From a Historical perspective: Prior to WWII the people of the middle were fragmented, with a mxiture of nomads who had little thought of the west, and remnants of the old Ottoman Empire which was an outgrowth of the rise of Islam, various Kingdoms with undefined territories. Some of this goes back as far as the Crusade Wars bewteen Christians and Muslims. Prior to the rise of the USA, before WWI, Britain, and other nations were very active in the Middle East. Then Israel emerged, and the fighting has continued between them and Palestine, the East and the West. The USA then came to power and oil became an even more seriuous commodity - so alliances were formed, or in some cases, the USA and other western nations supported regimes and governments that often conflicted with older Islamic beliefs and values. What we saw Tuesday is the bringing to a head what has gone on for decades and possibly a century.
The West is Hated: Much of this became clear when Ayatollah returned from exile in France to take over when the Shah of Iran was deposed and fled. The hostage crisis during President Carter's term was very real and terrible. We in the west, primarily the USA was labeled by the ruling Islamic party in Iran as The Great Satan.
Cult Psychology: When religous fanatics believe that their focus of hatred is backed by Satan, it becomes easy to believe that by killing Satan's agents (western citizens - expecially USA citizens) will get them a high place in heaven with Allah. There is no way to combat this except destruction.
Is any of this the USA fault? Realistically, some of the hatred toward us is our leadeship's fault. Palestinians have not always been dealt with fairly by the USA. Our oil interests have at times cause trouble, though mostly not, because the oil was in the dessert, and the money from it has greatly improved the lives of Saudi, Iranian, Kuwaiti and others lives.
Fanatcism: The attack on Tuesday is NOT our fault, nor by any standard deserved. It is the culmination of years of hatred combined with money, focus, training, dedication, religious fanaticism, and planning to bring about. If we fail to act, it will happen again and again for years, decades, and another century or more. These people in the Middle East are still fighting their ancestors wars, still hate the Jews from the time of Moses, still hold grudges over the Crusades, still resent the western influence in their cultures when oil became so important, still hate the upset to their governments when the west got involved, still resent the Jews moving back in during and since WWII, still resent western support for Israel, still hate us - the Great Satan - for our nation is the ultimate Apostate.
I do not hate these people: Rather, I fear their hatred of me. Many, though not all, Arabs, Iranians (Persians), Iraqis, Afghanis, Syrians, Lebanese, Egyptians, Jordanians, and others hate us. Engough of them hate us to our very core, so much so that they are willing to die to kill any of us ... and some time ago declared war on every American.
The only good American is a dead American to paraphrase their feelings in our own historical shame. I fear their hatered. I loath their hatred. I regret their hatred. I understand and then do not understand their hatred. I want to change their hatred to one of peace, but deep down I know that will never happen.
Whose children shall live?: Mine, yours, and our allies. We must stand against this mentality. This new era of hidden enemies is a new challenge - but we will meet it - and we will win. - Amazing