Lawrence Wright thinks that was one of the question bin Laden set out to answer on 9/11:
In the name of al-Qaeda’s vision of Islam, children have been turned into suicide bombers, both Muslims and non-Muslims have been beheaded (sometimes on video), women have had their faces burned off, schools were destroyed, lovers stoned, aid workers murdered, and the whole world held hostage to terror. In the minds of many non-Muslims, Islam has become synonymous with barbarism. Nothing said by more moderate Muslim voices could compete with the appalling imagery put forward by al-Qaeda’s terror masters.
Then came the Arab Spring. …
The protesters are not just bringing about badly needed social revolutions in their societies. By their moral example, they are redefining Islam and redeeming it from the savage caricature that bin Laden made of his religion.
(Photo: Anti-government demonstrators pray at sunset in front of Egyptian army tanks on February 5, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. The army had planned to clear the demonstrators' barricades on the edge of Tahrir Square, and protesters vowed to lie down in front of the tanks. By John Moore/Getty Images)
The Dish 