Aafia Siddiqui is a Pakistani woman who embodies the type of problem the United States faces in the Muslim world.

From Wikipedia: "Aafia Siddiqui (born March 2, 1972, in Karachi, Pakistan) is a Pakistani Muslim neuroscientist, accused by the U.N. and U.S. of being an al-Qaeda member. The subject of a five-year international manhunt, and named one of seven "most wanted" al-Qaeda fugitives by the Federal Bureau of Investigation  (FBI), she was captured in Afghanistan and convicted in February 2010 in the U.S.District Court for the Southern District of New York, of attempting to murder U.S. soldiers and FBI agents who were about to interrogate her in Afghanistan."

It appears that there is pretty solid evidence that Siddiqui was associated with al-Qaida, but her guilt or innocence in that regard is not as meaningful as her role as a symbol to Pakistanis of their vulnerability to a harsh foreign justice. America has one of the toughest legal systems in the world and among all crimes, terrorism is punished harshest. While the United States incarcerates about 715 per 100,000 people Pakistan keeps less than 60 per 100,000 locked up. As unappealing as Sharia law may be, America's reputation for unforgiving justice has a very strong negative effect in cases like that of Aafia Siddiqui.

The takeaway message regarding Aafia Siddiqui for many Pakistanis will necessarily be that a vulnerable educated Muslim is subordinate to the United States military. This kind of message, like many of the subtle messages of the War on Terror, does not do any good anywhere.