I don't think most of the kidnappings and murders of westerners in Iraq had much to do with religion- more like plain old thuggery in the service of criminal greed, despite whatever Islamic rhetoric the abductors used.

Even in cases where westerners were simply murdered without any demands being broadcast, I don't think the jihad rationale was all that coherent. There simply is a great deal of anger in Iraq and elsewhere in the Islamic world, fueled by poverty, repressive societies, etc. and exploited and amplified by the radical mullahs.

In other words, the perpetrators are typically young guys with no prospects who are scooped up and used by devious men- tools of religious intolerance who aren't particularly savvy themselves, or bearing thought-out agendas.

The recruiting of these footsoldiers is based on the harnessing of their lowest urges... supplying a twisted brotherhood that channels their feelings of impotence into outwardly directed violence.