Is the war in Afghanistan and Iraq (in essance, even the whole 'war against terrorism' a religious w

My opponents contention is that "the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are, indeed religious conflicts between the Islamic peoples and the 'Christian infidels' of the West. " My rebuttal is that for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to be defined as religious conflicts, or indeed for any conflict to be defined as religious in nature then it must be possible to show that either the origin the conduct or the objectives of the war are primarily religiously based. The onus is on my opponent to show that this is the case here and it my job to show that it is not. The war in Afghanistan was a direct result of the terrorist attacks launched against America on September 11th, 2001. Common opinion is that Osama bin Laden and/or his Al-Quaeda network were responsible for the attack. The USA deemed that these conspirators including Osama bin Laden were resident in Afghanistan. I will accept that Osama Bin Laden's stated and apparent reasons for the 9-11 attack were to an extent religiously motivated. However Osama Bin Laden is not representative of Islam, by going to war with him the ‘west' is going to war with certain Muslims, we are not going to war with all Islam. Indeed not only is it apparent that Osama bin Laden does not command the Islamic world, the ideology of ‘Qutbism' that he follows is relevant to only a minority of Muslims, he regards the Taliban regime as the only true Islamic state and defines Shia Muslims as one of the four principal enemies of Islam. . http://en.wikipedia.org... America's cause for war was the 9-11 attacks, it's understandable need to seek justice and/or revenge, to protect itself from further attacks, to defend it's international status, or even to advance her Imperialistic aims. None of these are religious aims. So therefore it is clear that though a sub-sect of Islam regards itself as being in war against Christianity and also other sects of Islam, however the Christian west does not share this viewpoint. Only from the subjective opinion of a minority of the Islamic world would this viewpoint hold. With regards the war in Iraq, it is clear that the current war is a consequence of ‘unfinished business' from what is commonly termed the first gulf war. . http://en.wikipedia.org... This conflict was solely based on secular politics, specifically Iraq's attempt to annex Kuwait to appease historic nationalism and to strengthen it's modern economy. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria also intervened against Iraq in spite of their common religion and because of ‘oil politics'. It is the terms of the peace imposed upon Saddam, and his alleged failure to cooperate with weapons inspections that led to the resumption of hostilities. Not a point of theological dispute. Some have also claimed George W Bush's desire to somehow gain some measure of glory by resolving his father's unfinished business, and also America's ‘post 9-11 psychology' in which it has accepted the need for aggression. These are however all secular, political, non-religious motivations. In addition Saddam Hussein was a secular leader, and he actually had Christians within his government, including General Sada. . http://en.wikipedia.org... In addition both the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have incorporated Islamic forces and assistance on behalf of the western Coalition. In Afghanistan we see the Northern Alliance, Albania, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Jordan amongst others. These factions/countries are all Islamic, or at least possess an Islamic majority. They would not ally themselves with the ‘Christian West' in a religious war against Islam. . http://en.wikipedia.org... In Iraq we again see local Islamic forces fighting for the Coalition/the new western back regime, as well as troops from Turkey. . http://en.wikipedia.org... These contributions would be impossible if my opponents contention was to be true. Lastly, we can tell from the conduct of the war that the USA and her coalition partners do not regard the conflict as a religious war otherwise we would surely see efforts to destroy Islam and replace it with Christianity in the relevant countries. The USA still fields soldiers who are also Muslims, neither the USA nor the UK have interned their Muslim populations (which they would have done if were truly at war with Islam). America still retains excellent relations with Saudi Arabia… which would be one of the primary targets in a war that my opponent describes. In conclusion I negate the resolution.