What has happened in the Muslim countries that causes terrorism? Why are Muslims killing other Muslims?
Most Muslim countries are in a bad condition. The governments that took over from the colonialists retained many of the practices of the colonizers. Some Muslim countries have not made as much progress other third world countries that emerged post-WW II, and most of the blame remains with the Muslims for the lack of progress.
In the past century, there have been many armed conflicts around the world because of politics, territorial issues and power, some involving Muslims against Muslim, and some serious ones involving non-Muslims against the Muslims that have left a bitter legacy.. For example, the American invasion of the Philippines in the American-Spanish war around 1900 led to the destruction of an independent Muslim state in the south, and the subsequent influx of Christians taking over Muslim land sowed the seeds of a rebellion which is still active. World War I destabilized the one remaining Muslim state, the Turkish Ottoman Empire, and the seizure of Palestine from the Muslims sowed the seeds of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The French killed a million Algerians in a bloody attempt to deny the Algerians their freedom. Similarly, secessionist movements in Biafra by the Christians started a war in Nigeria. And Muslim fought Muslim in the separation of Bangladesh and Pakistan, and in the war between Iraq and Iran. There has been interference by the West and Communists in Muslim countries, for example, Russian invasion of Afghanistan and Chechnya, the American overthrow of the democratically elected government of Mossadeg in Iran in 1953, which set back democracy in the Middle East by half a century, and the British led attack on Egypt over the Suez canal. Civil war within and war with other nations has become part of the ongoing condition of Muslim countries, with Muslims being the victims of the conflicts.
It is true that in Muslim countries there is poverty, corruption, authoritarian rule, injustice, sectarian violence, civil wars, terrorism, lack of education, lack of basic human rights, even lack of necessities like food and water. These oppressive conditions are fertile ground for some people wanting to change the conditions by force. Who should be held responsible for these oppressive conditions? Some, like Osama Bin Laden, blame the oppressive conditions on the oppressive regimes in Muslim countries, which tend to be non-democratic dictatorships and monarchies, and on the supporters of those regimes, like the US, who have their own agenda for supporting these regimes. Osama’s misguided approach was to use force to change the regimes, but lacking a military force for invasion, he chose to launch terrorist attacks on America to dissuade it from supporting the regimes. However, the causes of the problems run deeper and wider than just the regimes which are but a reflection of the problems.
Besides foreign invasions as of Chechnya and Iraq, there are also civil wars going on in Muslim countries, Muslims fighting Muslims, because of struggles for power and territory, with nationalism, ethnic and sectarian differences also involved. This is not how Muslims are supposed to resolve these problems amongst themselves. They are supposed to unite against injustice and aggression by a group of Muslims against another group, and try to resolve the matter peacefully with justice, and as a last resort, use force to bring the offenders to justice. There is a lack of unity amongst Muslims which has resulted in Muslims fighting Muslims, and unfortunately until some strong, capable leadership emerges amongst the Muslims, this sad state of affairs is likely to persist.
Americans are impatient because they find it difficult to comprehend why Muslim countries are in a state of turmoil, especially when compared with the stability of the United States. It has taken the US a couple of centuries and much turmoil to reach this state of relative stability. To understand the turmoil in the Muslim countries, imagine if the War of Independence, the Civil War in which Americans killed Americans, segregation, wars with Mexico over territory, Prohibition and organized crime, the Great Depression, disputes between businesses and labor, religious persecution like of the Mormons, drugs and the "War on Drugs", and the friction of current religious, social and political divisions were all going on simultaneously, you would have some idea of the turmoil in Muslim countries. It is not unreasonable to expect that it will take them some time to reach relative stability, as it did the US, and one can not expect that in just a few months or even a few years they will be as stable as the US, so patience towards the Muslim countries is required of America.