COMMENTARY: Why Do Muslims Carry Out Terrorist Attacks Against Americans?

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a Somali-born Muslim, was arrested on November 26, 2010 in downtown Portland, Oregon, after he used a cell phone to try to detonate what he thought were explosives in a van. He did this in an area where thousands of people had assembled -- including many children -- to see a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony.

Fortunately, it turned out to be a fake bomb put together by FBI agents, who had learned about Mohamud's terrorist plan several months earlier.

This case is the latest in a string of terrorist planning by United States residents, including the Times Square plot in which a Pakistani-born Muslim pleaded guilty earlier this year to trying to set off a car bomb on a busy street corner.

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks -- again carried out by Muslims -- are considered to be the worst attacks on the United States in its history.

Just why are Muslims so anti-American that they continue to carry out -- or try unsuccessfully to carry out -- terrorist attacks against Americans? There are three major reasons for Islamic terrorism.

First, many Muslims believe that the United States has no business "interfering" in the affairs of Iraq and Afghanistan. They sincerely believe that Americans are killing Muslims in these two war-torn predominantly Muslim nations because they don't care about Muslims. Consequently, they see a need to retaliate by killing Americans.

Israeli "violence" against Palestinians -- most of whom are Muslims -- is a second reason for Muslim terrorism in the United States. The fact is that the United States is Israel's closest ally, and for many years has supplied Israel with a plethora of modern weapons -- weapons that Israelis use to kill Palestinian Muslims.

A third reason for Islamic terrorism in America relates to America's arrest and long-term imprisonment of Muslims without a trial -- as is the case of many Muslims in Guantanamo, Cuba -- which contradicts American constitutional law. Muslims, then, feel that they are being discriminated against by Americans who see nothing wrong with violating the United States Constitution when it applies to Muslims.

The above situations indicate why Muslims are opposed to American foreign policy which includes invading and bombing Muslim nations, supporting Israeli violence against Muslims, and imprisoning Muslims without due process of law.

These situations cause anger in Muslims. This anger leads to a quid pro quo reaction by Muslims who feel it is all right for them to commit terrorist acts against Americans, because Americans are committing aggressive acts against Muslims.

The end product is a vicious cycle of Muslim terrorism and American militarism. When will this cycle end? We don't know.

What we do know is that Islamic terrorism against Americans is a phenomenon that we can expect to live with for many years, since we can see no end to it in the foreseeable future.