Who are the real fascists in Middle East?

GEORGE W Bush, with his usual knack for unconscious irony, last week described an ‘Islamo-fascist’ conspiracy to destroy freedom, democracy and ‘our way of life’.

While it’s clear who the Islamic fundamentalists are, who are the fascists? There can be no denying Muslims have carried out terrorist attacks, but how is one supposed to describe what the US and UK in particular are doing throughout the Middle East?

Apart from a growing tendency to try to link Islam and Nazism in the popular psyche, obviously Bush and his ilk never stop to consider how their actions in this regard might be perceived in the Muslim world.