>They want a confrontation with the West, and are using whatever excuses they can find to trigger it. The cynic in me says they really want war, whatever "final battle" is predicted in their religion (I say this not knowing if there is suppose to be one).
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>It reminds me of the situation in Europe on the eve of WW1 - the major governments practically salivating over the prospect of going at each other. Little did they know what kind of horror would be unleashed. I don't think the Jihadists have any concept of the misery and suffering they are heading towards - but then, since it is all in the name of religion, it makes it okay in their minds.

One of the most troublesome aspects of the idea of a religion is that while they don't necessarily endorse the idea of a holy war, they don't, most of the time, stand up against it. The worst offenders, AFAIK, are Christianity and Islam. Both have a long history of conquests, empire building, ethnical cleansing and all sorts of atrocities. And this isn't completely a thing of the past for any of the major religions - you should have heard the warmongering coming from clergy of all three (Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim) sides of the Yugoslav wars.

And any war, where a religion can shed its blessings on the warriors and hope for expansion thereby, seems to be OK for that religion. For me, that's outright scary - never knowing which one will be the next.