no wonder there are so many Muslim viewpoints

I have (sporadically) been recently reading the Qu'ran over the past 8 months or so and it has consistently fascinated and surprised me. Surprising to me, coming from a Christian background, is just how many different narrative elements the Qu'ran and the Bible share. I find it fascinating because there are passages that can be interpreted in radically different ways. For example, in 2: 191-192 it says

"Fight for the sake of God those that fight against you, but do not attack them first. God does not love aggressors.
Slay them wherever you find them. Drive them out of the places from which they drive you."


Perhaps a case could made that the U.S., with it's covert incursions into places such as Pakistan and overt attacks like the first Gulf War, could be considered to have been not only to have made them the initial aggressors, but also having had the effect of driving Muslims out of such places. Thus interpreted, Al-Qaeda's actions are justified by their sacred text. Of course, it is also possible to that the actions taken by the U.S. are not undertaken against Muslims but rather criminals and terrorists hiding in Pakistan and a corrupt and brutal dictator, Saddam Hussein, who invaded without provocation another sovereign nation, Kuwait. In any case, I can see why one religion, Islam, can accommodate radically different perspectives.