Why do they hate us?'' Last September, this question reverberated through US society and media as they pondered horrific terrorist attacks attributed to Islamist extremists. In the ancient city of Cairo, Arabs and Muslims ask the same question Wicked religion

Usama Soltan, a doctoral student, says that when he enters chat rooms on the Internet, "I hear all sorts of vulgar language about us now. One day there was this guy and he wrote all sorts of f-- language about us in a chat room, things I can't describe."

It does not help that intellectuals and media commentators seen here as eminent in the United States issue statements and characterisations that come across as confrontational. They include Chris Matthews, of MSNBC television, Princeton University historian Bernard Lewis, and evangelist Franklin Graham.

Lewis appears undaunted in holding aloft verses of the Quran and claiming these endorse violence against non-Muslims and maintains that terrorism is part of a long struggle between Islam and the West. Meanwhile, Graham blames Islam itself for violence and condemns it as "an evil and wicked religion."

"Anti-Western statements came in an isolated manner and from pariahs like (Osama) bin Laden and militant groups," says Fodah. "And even in these cases, the militants only condemned some American foreign policy actions, not their society. They wanted to enjoy the freedom in America and the West."

The difference, according to Fodah, is that "in the West, the antagonism is more mainstream: the media, intellectuals, books and politicians. The real question is not who hates who. It is in fact why the West hates us so much." (IPS)