To Spider's lever point, which is a good one, it just begs the question of why Islam is the most common religious lever used.
The West has sown political unrest in Latin American and African nations as well without this sort of blowback. And there's similar unrest in both continents that hasn't resulted in international terrorism.
Your argument that it's purely political doesn't hold water. Especially when you see things like the Mali executioners sparing Muslims.