Whether through sloppy thinking, laziness, or outright racism, Imperial powers love to dismiss local resistance to foreign domination as either "drug-crazed" or "religious fanatics", sometimes both.

Because then you don't have to take a close look at their motivations and ask "Why are they pissed off enough to do something like this? Why specifically are they targeting us? What would I have to be put through to feel like a suicide bombing was a reasonable thing to do?

"Oh wait, they're just a bunch of religious nutbags? Great, now we can unleash death an destruction on them and their society knowing that they're unreasoning fanatics, and not people with a legitimate beef.

"Nice to know we're still the good guys who never start a fight but always finish it. We're kind of attached to that myth, and it would cause a lot of national distress and heartache if we had to question the reality of that.

"Good thing they're just religious crazies."