We are in substantial agreement. They have never really been in control of any Muslim nation and I believe it can be safely said that they don't represent the majority of Muslim opinion on the "presence" issue. Now, irrespective of whether it is classified as a terrorist organization (looking back, that label could be placed on a lot of, shall we say, revolutionary movements), there probably is a "presence argument" -- just not the way Al Qaeda has propaganized it.
That is: to the extent that Al Qaeda represents a brand and branch of radical Islam which has as its professed ultimate goal the creation or re-establishment of a caliphate through which it would be the care-taker of the Muslim World and it views American interest as standing between it and those goals, there exist, as I see it, the "American Presence" argument. Mind you, however, that "presence" did not and does not have to be "on Muslim lands." So long as Al Qaeda views American interest as somehow in the way of or contrary to the accomplishment of its goals, no matter where Americans or American philosophy might physically be, there would be an interferring American presence. Hence, even if Americans are not physically on any Muslim lands, there is a serious question whether peace can cohabit with Al Qaeda philosophy, though it may with Muslims.
QueEx
I won't argue with that summation
