User:Ed Poor/jihad

Not posted to Talk:Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy

Questions this raises
It seems that whenever someone in the West criticizes Muslim extremists for violence, the Muslim world responds with angry protests - often violent ones. I wonder why I never hear a response of, "Yes, we also condemn the violence of these extremists." Does the press suppress these responses? Or are current high-level Muslims sensitive to criticism?

Or: does the critique hit home? Is there indeed a major current within the Islamic world which is violent and extreme?
 * Are there Muslims (or "political leaders whose religious loyalty is to Islam") who feel that forcible conversions are okay? That publicly beating up a woman who accidentally shows an ankle is a right, even a duty?