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Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler
Did they? It seems this all stems from Afghanistan and Americans/Pakistanis stirring up opposition to the Soviets. They loined the zealots to fight the godless Communists and then the Soviets left and the bearded fellows had nothing to do... Nasser/Sadat, Assad Sr. and Saddam had been in power for many decades without much ado...
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Afghanistan gave them a place to meet up and cut their teeth in combat. But these guys were disenfranchised long before that. The move towards being hardliners really took hold as a result of life under dictatorships like Nasser, Al Saud etc. Sadat was killed by extremists within the Egyptian military.
Using Egypt as an example, the country was far more liberal 70 years ago when they lived under the monarchy. It was only after the Military took over did the oppression start and the move towards hardline religion begin.
The dictatorships robbed the countries of their treasure and caused the exodus of the intelligensia. Locking people up for political activities and torturing them in prison caused the radicalization of thousands of people.