Islam has the same tenets as Judaism and Christanity. There are commands not to kill innocent human beings, not to harm individuals for actions of groups, etc etc. When McVeigh bombed OK, did we rush to generalize all Christians as such? When Hitler killed 12 million "others" in the name of eugenics and Christianity, did we generalize his actions to the whole of Christainity. The answer is a resounding NO. However, when a single group of "muslims" commit atrocities, we are quick to generalize their actions as being representative of the group as a whole, and condemning a religion to barbarism.
First off, Islamic society is the way it is right now because of Western interventions. Despots, such as our hated Saddam Hussein, were propped up and supported throughout the modern history of the Middle East. Remember, Saddam was thrust into power because we need a hegemony in the ME. When he gassed his people, we looked the other way, in fact we didn't care as long as he continued his ruinous war against Iran, whos Western leader was overthrown in a (much needed) revolution. He learned the gruesome trade of torture from the British and got his materials from there as well. This story is repeated ad nausum throughout the ME. Despots usually stay in power by subjugating their peoples. Look at the history of nearly every dictorial country. Cambodia (pol pot), Vietnam (Ho chi Minh), Soviet Russia (the gulags setup by Stalin), China under Mao Tse Tung, etc etc etc. The ME is no different. However, our media has done a tremoundous job of alienating those peoples (arabs) into being a vicious pack of animals, when the opposite is true. They are just as compassionate and as human as the rest of us. However, hearing that will undermine the fear-mongering set in place by the Administration and the Media.
I am not trying to be an apologist here, but I am saying that the problems/situations we routinely see today are not because of a singular cause or even a simple cause. It is multi-faceted. And our hands are not clean and haven't been clean in this matter for generations.