So, reading here between the lines, Al Qaeda is right: This is a crusade, or a war on Islam? That's really too bad.

It isn't the religion, really, it is the political ambitions of several individuals who seek to gain prestige or power. They use the religion to legitimize their ambitions. It isn't so different anywhere in the world you go. Religion has been used by the ambitious to assuage the legitimate alarm of those who would otherwise oppose that ambition.