There was a Muslim kid who studied at Holy Names College in Oakland, CA. He was born in Saudi Arabia and helped at his family's lemon and date farm, and also worked for a relief society in Afghanistan. He was conservative and by all appearances put his faith into practice. He was just the kind of young man many would hold up as a posterchild for interreligious dialogue... Not only was he a Muslim, but he studied at a Catholic University, helped his family in their business and helped his fellow man when they needed it most. Everyone seemed to like him... Then September 11th came and the nice young man who went to the Catholic College and helped on the farm helped fly a jet into the Pentagon.
There was also another young man from Lebanon. He was enrolled in La Sagesse Cathlolic School where he helped disabled children and ran an anti-drug organization. Later, this caring young man helped at the church orphanage. His story is, by all appearances, another brilliant example of religious cooperation and diversity overcoming ages of hate. After moving to Germany, he met a beautiful young lady and fell in love. His more devout friends didn't like the fact that they lived together, but he wasn't overtly religious anyway, so what could they expect. A few years later he moved to the US where the people he hung out with remember him as being kind and caring. He called his girlfriend daily and talked about her often.
But this good-looking, Catholic school attending young man who helped orphans and the handicapped also piloted an airliner that attempted to crash into the Capitol Building until its passengers overcame their hijackers and he crashed it into a field, killing 44 people.
The enemy doesn't always look like this:
It often looks like this:
That is what makes terror so truly terrible. It can be perpetrated by people who appear just like you and me. Doctors from London, students at your Cathlolic University... And the fact is, they
aren't all that different. So long as we repeat the meme that acts of violence are perpetrated only or even mainly by the fringe, or only by those that have no money and are being taken advantage of, we will gain little headway. How does one overcome it? I wish I knew... I have Iraqi comrades that will point blank tell you that they hated America 7-8 years ago, but now would fight and die by your side as a brother. What makes one man have a change of heart, while another who went to a Catholic School and helped handicapped children flies a plane full of civilians to their death? What makes otherwise intelligent men and women embrace the cause of martyrdom through committing atrocities? That is a complicated and multi-faceted issue with no easy answers.