What are we looking for?
Reader comment on item: The California Suicide Bomber[: Ra'ed Mansour al-Banna]

Submitted by Marcy Glanz (United States), Apr 4, 2005 at 16:59

So, had we been keeping a proper eye on Banna as a potentially dangerous Muslim, what exactly would we have been looking for?What in his behavior could have possibly tipped us off that he was planning a monumental suicide bombing? His behavior had been discreet, not hateful and erratic. Are we then required to suspect everyone, even the Muslims who may be truly quiet and discreet? It's quite a conundrum. At what point does such a seemingly stable person become unhinged enough, or maybe fanatical enough to kill himself for Jihad?

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