Yes, a good question ...

But I think you've slightly missed the mark.

First lets start with this: "Islam", and without being politically correct but accurate lets call it the Islamo-fascist strain of Islam, is what "we" are at war with. Now that strain, even if it is 1% (and various studies of actuating terrorists up to "sympathizers" have put it much higher) of the 1 billion world-wide Muslim population has the short math adding up to a 10 million man foe. The US, in comparison, has right at 2 million men & women in her armed forces.

Now that we have appropriately defined our enemy by name and her approximate number, we must further note that Islamo fascists, or Islamists (versus simply being "Islamic"), are not at war with the USA alone. I would argue that they are at war with the "non believers." Who most prominently represents those non believers? The West. Who most prominently, clearly, dominantly, successfully represents the free will of man in the West? Why the United States of course. So, we are the spear head when it comes both to suffering attacks and returning them in defense.

Now consider the phrase I used a moment ago to describe the United States of America - free will. Does anyone here know what the word "Islam" literally means? Submission. Submission to Allah, Mohammad and the laws henceforth set out. For the Islamists (note the "s"), to resist that submission is a mortal sin, punishable by death.

Now not only does the Islamists regard us as "infidels" for resisting that submission, the "dominant" aspects of our culture of free will are spreading to their front doors, in their nations - McDonald's, Brittney Spears, pornography, etc. Add to that the events of 1948 (as in the Balfour Declaration - the establishment of the state of Israel). Add to that the various governments of the Islamic states openly doing business with the West, most prominently the US (one should remember Islamists associated with Bin Laden attempted a coup of the royal family in Saudi Arabia which was seen as "too Westernized"), and you have a cocktail that this intolerant, vicious strain of Islam reacts to with terror and violence.

Now all of us would argue in the West, quite appropriately, that Big Macs, Spears, et al have the right to conduct their business when and where they want - that's obvious. Their success is a result of the free will the US has championed. And that is not going to go away nor succumb to submission. The state of Israel is not going to go away nor succumb to submission. The various governments of Islamic states are going to continue to do more and more business with the West - all of these are a result of free will prospering, in every sense of the word. Free will is the natural state of man, as we would all agree. Bush was never that eloquent but did verbally shine when he said the following in a SoTU address: "Freedom is not America's gift to the world, but God's gift to mankind." So Islamists are in actuality at war with what has proven to be man's most natural state - freedom. The USA, through no accident but rather countless acts of courage, sacrifice and ingenuity, has come to represent the brightest most successful modern example of freedom. Thus the Islamists are at war not with who we are, but rather what we are - free.

Now why would Islamists want to counter free will and the prosperity gained under its employment? I'm no Islamic scholar but it occurs to me that this particular strain, which has hit a critical mass number in the millions, has never undergone a reformation. The other major religions: Christianity, Judaism, Hindus, Buddhists, and non-militant Islam have "reformed" to a degree that make them compatible with democracy and the practice of free will. The Islamists have entered into no such state as to be compatible, and are resisting violently. And make no mistake, by "resisting" I mean to directly say engaging in acts of terror, evil, and heinous brutality so despicable that our armed forces waging war against them is the only suitable answer.

So to answer Titus's question directly, this strain is a hold over of a 7th century version of Islam that has always been at war with the non believer. And as the representatives of free will and democracy have gained in prosperity and influence (most prominently the US), their intolerance and hatred has caused them to become ever more organized and radicalized to the point of waging a hot war against us, personified in (but not beginning with) 9/11. In other words they never stopped being at war with the non believer or infidel, and we are the latest and greatest (historically speaking) "perpetrator" of non belief - i.e. we are free to resist Islam. Thus the US is the biggest target of these Islamists.

And that's what makes this group particularly evil and tough to fight. Bin Laden once said that the only thing the US could do to save itself (and I'm paraphrasing from a news report I viewed some time back) was to "succumb to Islam." Adpot the Koran and do away with the Constitution - then and only then would they accept our very existence. "Succumb" or face extinction is the Islamists message to the non believer. They are openly talking of genocide in ways Hitler only referred to in hushed tones and euphemisms. They define their "final solution" right in their charters, clearly in their speeches and prominently on their web sites. And the Islamists are bound not by nation of origin, uniform or even common purpose, but rather a religious ideology that serves to enslave the "believer" in cult like fashion. How do you combat an enemy whom is spread across the world yet bound by a single death embracing cult? I think on that score Bush has been correct - fight, in a hot war manner, the active terrorists; inject democracy into the heart of Islamic lands with a free, independent, democratic, liberated Iraq; and embrace the moderate Muslims whom want to rid themselves of the Islamists as much as we do.

So, when did they start waging war with us? Answer: in a sense, they never stopped. We are just the latest, most brash, successful example of free will - the Islamists's enemy.

The Islamists' biggest problem, however, is that their "latest enemy" is highly skilled at KICKING ASS.