> is the US for or against Islamic extremism?
USA is neither for or against something , USA has interests. If islamic extremists could be manipulated easily , they would be USA's best friends. The truth is they use to be,during the cold war. USA "won" the cold war in Afghanistan by helping the Mujahideen. USA used to back Saddam Hussein , heck , USA used to sell weapons to Iran too. USA has no problem with dictatorships as long as it serves US interests(south america). And it still supports the Saudi regime , which is not very democratic to say the least.
The issue is , you cant act that way abroad and not damage things at home on the long run. That's happening now, all these NSA programs would have been shut down (officialy) if they were exposed 30 years ago. Now most politicians think it's for USA's own good.
IMHO Ben Laden and his crazy folks, won their war against USA somehow. They did not weaken USA with the attack, USA did weaken itself with its response, and exposed itself as hypocrite and not exceptional.
9/11 should have made core US principles stronger , it weakened them. Remember after 9/11 99% of the nations on the earth were behind USA, even most middle eastern countries. Is it still the case today?
Still i dont believe in USA downfall. As a nation, USA has something no other nation has ,the capacity to re-invent itself over and over. That's what will save them, not it's politicians.