Spawned from a different topic.
Why is it, do you believe, that Middle Eastern Terrorists attack and have attacked American targets (U.S. Buildings, buildings holding Americans abroad, Military vessels, etc)?
What is their motivations and reasons for doing so?
I think for the point of this discussion it is necessary to separate the al-Qa'ida affiliated groups (Taliban, organizations in FATA, al-Qa'ida itself) from non-al-Qa'ida affiliated groups (certain al-Jihads, Hizb'allah, HAMAS, PKK, Muslim Brotherhood, FLN in Algeria).
The non-al-Qa'ida affiliated groups (Non-A'Q) do not believe in attacking the United States. Their brand of terrorism is to destroy the imminent threat. Non-A'Q wants to destroy the local
kaffirs, like Israel and current government. al-Qa'ida affiliated groups (A'Q) differ because they want to attack the "far enemy" like the United States and Russia, and Europe directly. A'Q believes it is necessary to kill the hand that feeds the local
kaffirs before dealing with the problem within the Muslim world.
Here is a quote from Hasan Nasrallah the leader of Hizb'allah in a 2006 interview.
"What do the people who worked in those two [World Trade Center] towers, along with thousands of employees, women and men, have to do with war that is taking place in the Middle East? Or the war that Mr. George Bush may wage on people in the Islamic world?" he asked me. "Therefore we condemned this act -- and any similar act we condemn."
Source
We must remember that A'Q were chased from the Arabian peninsula because even the non-A'Q terrorists believed that directly attacking the United States does not help their cause. We see clashes from time-to-time between non-A'Q and A'Q operatives.
Reasons for why A'Q and non-A'Q organizations attack United States targets even overseas really depends on the circumstance. You have incidental terrorists who attack Marines in Afghanistan because a stray Apache shell killed a civilian. Before the Iraqi Awakening and before the Surge, most of the resistance in Iraq were incidental combatants. There are some reports of Iraqi tribesmen attacking US because they had nothing better to do, or they got caught up in a frenzy.
Also, in the Iraq war we saw a civil war of sorts mainly between non-A'Q and A'Q specifically Jesh al-Mehdi, al-Sadr, Shi'a insurgents, versus, al-Qa'ida, and former Baathists. Most terrorist attacks in Iraq, and indeed in the Middle East, are directed against fellow Muslims.
With very few instances we see terrorists attacks (excluding I.E.Ds and insurgencies) to be the working of A'Q. If a Marine convoy rolled into south Lebanon, then sure Hizb'allah would attack it. If a Marine convoy mixed with Israeli soldiers, then they would be targeted. There is no doubt about it.
As Hasan stated following the previous quote, from the same source:
"I said nothing about the Pentagon, meaning we remain silent. We neither favored nor opposed that act," he replied. "Well, of course, the method of Osama bin Laden, and the fashion of bin Laden, we do not endorse them. And many of the operations that they have carried out, we condemned them very clearly."
Hiz'ballah's beef is with Israel. The Pentagon in Hizb'allah's paradigm is a protector of Israel, therefor they did not condone the fashion it was carried, but the end goal they saw benefit for their goal.
I doubt we will ever see Hiz'ballah radicals, and other non-A'Q groups launching assaults against the United States in the United States. They do not operative in such a motive.
A'Q, to finally get to answering the question, gained major props amongst radical Muslims when they "defeated" the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. A'Q does not logistically attack targets. They didn't aim for telecommunication head quarters, nor did they aim Fort Bragg. In 9/11 A'Q aimed for symbolism. They wanted to destroy the icons of American wealth (WTC), of American power (Pentagon), and expectedly of American government (White House). Usama Bin Laden had an entire theory that the fall of the American Empire would be overextension and the price paid both in blood and in currency in Afghanistan.
