Terrorist attacks have a remarkable association with religion, and a particular one at that.
The idea that the violence would occur anyway, fatally misses the obvious facts. What extremist religion gives you, is not only the motivation, but the steadfast certainty, that you will go to a better place when you die, and and steadfast certainty that you are better than the infidels. The hate is merely a bonus
Purely political violence carries a fear of being caught and a fear of dying - these curtail these types of random violence quite a bit.
Edit - from a western perspective, there is also something inately terrifying about someone mad enough to kills themselves in the process
No, terrorist attacks on western targets have an association with Islam. As POSM said before, the politics and history of the middle east are incredibly complicated.. I'm yet to read anything that gives a solid and concise explanation of why the region is the way it is. But terrorism can be seen everywhere in the world - and most places have much higher death tolls than we do in the west.
The drug fueled terrorism in central and south america is a really good parallel to draw - As over dramatised as it is, watch Narcos - great TV show. That's a majority christian area of the world too.
I was in Myanmar at the start of the year, where there is
hate for a Muslim minority by a Buddist majority (a religion many tout as peaceful). A lot of Rohingas are being killed, starved and jailed unjustly because of a fracturing of communities in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Why are these young Muslim men attacking western targets? We sort of deserve it... Constant war and instability that has at least in part been a result of western influence in the region pretty much every couple of years since the beginning of the last century. I'm 22 years old: if I was born in Iraq I would experienced three multi-national wars in my lifetime in my own country. And who would I blame? Sure my own leaders have been corrupt, power hungry and tyrannous. But the US and its allies have caused a lot of the conflict and suffering in Iraq - when really it was none of their business. Had I been born into that situation.. I probably would hate the west and what it had done to my people.
Iran is a great example of what happens when you leave a middle eastern country to its own accord with relatively non-violent leadership. They're a well educated, well developed, thriving country. And while there isn't great freedom of the press, women's rights or democracy.. There's a lot of natural development happening in these areas, just like it has in the rest of the world.