Shaun,
All dictators, rule by fear of torture and death. Their has been and still are Islamic dictators that fear these new style Islamic fundamentalists themselves. A very good example is Gaddafi.
Now, ....Many may think that he promotes terrorism, and he probably does, but not Islamic fundamentalists. Far from supporting them he goes out of his way to stop them in their tracks. He is actually the BLOCK along the North African coastal countries. Which is why the West, in the whole left him alone, he was serving a need. To say he is ruthless is the biggest understatement anyone could make. I've seen him enclose complete towns with troops, no-one in, and no-one out....then go house to house through that town, (not always one town at a time, sometimes 2 or 3), looking for these people, and he normally gets them too..... The biggest threat to him was never the Americans or the western nations, it has always been the Islamic fundamentalist factions.
It may sound strange to you, but i lived /worked in Libya for 30 months, and i never once felt, in the least threatened or afraid. Somtimes i was traveling by car on my own, distances upto 900Km between the stage 1 project's maintenance facilities. (Great Man Made River Project)
Saddam was another such dictator, he also went out of his way to find and destroy these fundamentalists. Which is why at one point in time the West was supporting him in the wars with Iran. Haddad in Syria is yet another.
To be completely honest, the Middle East is one big powder keg waiting to go off. .... What many don't realise, is that none of them trust each other, not even close!! If they had of joined together in unity at the start of the 6 day war, it's debatable whether Israel would still be on the map. but that chance has now long gone for them.....
This is where the Islamist's have overcome that national problem in the Middle East. For them there are no national boundaries, their are no nationalities, they are Muslims, all held together by the common fundamentalist ideals, where terrorism forms part of those ideals to further there cause. We, the West had better watch out and start preparing for a very long conflict......
Sorry if I'm babbling on, but I'm also working on my computer here, and keep having to come back to say a bit more, ... but alas, my mind is jumping from one thing to another. I just can't multi-task, like i used too. ...hahaha!!
David....