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Here's my $0.02, for what it matters - the rest of the world is much more historically-minded than the US. We think, wait, why do I care if that guy's great grandfather invaded my country before I was born? The rest of the world remembers the slight. For the last 150 years or so, we've expected imigrants to check their baggage at the door and be good Americans. A lot of strife is gone, and you don't see too many Armenians taking potshots at Turks here, although that happens in the Middle East all the time. Pakistanis and Indians actually get along fairly well here, although there are occassional problems, just like the English and the Irish get along here for the most part.
However, if you look at the home countries the groups are at each others throats constantly. A lot of Middle Easterners still are offended by the Crusades while most Americans couldn't care less. After all, we aren't the ones that did it, just like we aren't the ones that held slaves (although some of our ancestors did). One of the basic differences between here and there is a long cultural memory. It affects basic perceptions of the world and helps create the persecution complex that a lot of Middle Eastern Muslims seem to have.
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