I am going to add something here about forced marriage. Forced marriage is a cultural phenomena that is definitely experienced by young people in Islam. Again this is poorly understood but mostly it is a societal method to provide fast track to residency to Western Countries. It again, like intermarriage, is rarely seen in majority Muslim countries. Arranged marriage yes, but a generation or two ago arranged marriage was still common in EU and is STILL apparent in certain classes of Europeans (think Royals). In fact arranged marriages have a lot of benefits if both parties agree. I think marrying for something as flimsy as love is a bad idea anyway. Forced marriage is illegal in the UK. But of the 4 cases I have personnally been involved with two were young Muslim women, one was a gay jewish woman being forced into marriage with a man and one was a Jo Wit.

Ok here goes.
There are NO Islamic countries. There are countries where Islam is the most common religion but none are state dictated.
Much of what you see as 'Islamic extremism' is CULTURAL. Wearing veils in whatever guise is entirely cultural. Some of the Eastern European countries which have a majority muslim population are fairly secular, Kazakhstan for example, wear the veil is no more than a headscarf. In the West women are not general forced to wear the Niqab, it is a choice. This choice stems from the notion of female purity and social status, rather than social control.
Islam and the Q'ran are not inherently violent or oppressesive and although I respect Mr. Hitchen's work in this he is wrong.
Look at India for example. India is going through HUGE social change, think 1960s USA. For the first time gay rights are being discussed, women's rights etc. Right amongst the majority Hindi and Christian populations are a sizeable Muslim population. They are fairly secular, educated and pragmatic.
Here in UK, especially where I live in the North West , we have a muslim population of about 13%. The local mosque is a huge contributor to local charities, regularly feed the poor and open their doors to the local community.
Of course there are extremists and I am willing to debate the reason for this at length. Of course we are seeing a 'snapback' to fundamentalist ideas across all three religions. There is just less taste for the ideas of fundamentalism in Christianity as (and I agree) Western Christians have cherry picked out the good bits. But be aware, it is there. Especially across USA but increasingly in Australia and some parts of EU. In Judaism it is STILL very apparent. There are Jewish communities in Europe that are basically completely closed to the authorities, where lack of education and abuse is rife.
I live and work amongst and with Muslims, I have my entire life. I have very good friends who are Muslim and have positively contributed to my life and world view. I work with Muslim academics, none of who wear anything like a veil.
This is an extremely complex situation and it is not as easy as saying 'Islam bad..rest of us ok'.
A year yesterday a young man set off a bomb at the Manchester Arena killing 22 mostly young people. Muslims ran into help, muslim brothers and sisters worked at everyone of the hospitals supporting that night's events (including the one where I work sometimes), the British Council of Mosques were the first to decry the violence.
The thing is this violence is just that violence perpetrated by mostly very young, disenfranchised men who believe a scewed and twisted version of the message the original teachers gave. Educating young people, allowing people to openly pursue their faith and for us all to keep talking and sharing with each other is what will reduce the hold on all religions. Demonising one will absolutely strengthen its hold and further radicalise its young.

We should not stereotype them. I’ve know some wonderful people who practice the Islamic faith. There’s nothing wrong or evil about the basic tenets of Islam.

Interesting to assign a religion to a group that mostly doesn’t ascribe to it.