You're an intelligent person but historically illiterate, it must be said. There was the Luxor Massacre* in 1997. Islamist extremists beheaded and slaughtered a bunch of tourists in Luxor, Egypt, in 1997.
Too recent? Ok the founder of Islam, Prophet Muhammad, himself beheaded hundreds of Jewish captives, in accord with an Arabian judge's ruling. Muhammad dug trenches outside the court. Then the male captives were split into two groups: those who had underarm and pubic hair, and those that did not. Members of the first group were beheaded with a sword. I remember reading this account:
"An adult male Jewish captive was brought out. He had torn his expensive clothes so that Muhammad and his followers couldn't loot his clothes post mortem. He kneeled down and his head was struck off."
I've got a pretty good memory so it's close to being verbatim. Beheading is one of the Hudud punishments in Islam (the reason why Saudi Arabia beheads criminals).
These and many others like them are atrocities. Unlike Christianity, Islam never had a reformation.
If you care to honestly examine the history of the ME, you'll find that it is steeped in blood
Listen I've absolutely zero argument about how vile and violent Islam is. No question there.
I said atrocities specifically aimed at the West. The Luxor incident again happened after the first Iraq war.
I maintain, the assaults *specifically* against the West have all happened post the first Iraq war.
I'm pretty certain on that because I travelled alone and penniless in Muslim countries in the 80s and was greeted with nothing but the traditional middle eastern hospitality shown a guest. That could not happen now.