What happened at Abu Ghraib cannot be said to have "caused" this
Why not? It certainly may have contributed. It certainly did not help.
I think you're missing it a bit ogged. While those people were militant enough to kill americans before this incident, Abu Ghraib just may be what is needed to recruit a few more people for their cause. After all, American violence DOES lead to islamic fundamentalism. Just as islamic violence leads to american fundamentalism (here it's called patriotism for some reason).
Bush may try and spin this into another rally for war. However, all but the blindest of Americans are bound to see through that.
I was trying to speak quite narrowly. I mean this particular act and people who commit acts like it. Very few people are capable of cutting off someone's head, and arguments that the Abu Ghraib pictures could cause someone to do so are about as convincing as arguments that Rammstein caused Columbine.
Sorry, rereading, that sounds dismissive. Just meant: I'm speaking very narrowly.
nothing provokes one honorable human being to cut off the head of another
There you go again, entering into the I/Thou relationship. So noumenal. I would have thought you meant: provokes, yes; causes, no. Unless you're really leaning on the honorable and you take it as constitutive of being honorable that one doesn't cut off heads.
Yes, leaning on the honorable. There are plenty of people who can be provoked to do totally crazy shit, but they're crazy, and we ought to keep the focus on their craziness, rather than on the provocation.
An example: years ago, in Chicago, a very promising high school basketball player named Benji Wilson bumped into someone on the street. Wilson said, "Excuse me." The man responded, "There ain't gonna be no excuses this time," and shot Wilson dead.
I need you to bo running my bar tab.