We typically think of terrorists as people who come from poor and depressed background, circumstances which made them particularly vunlerable to manipulation by terror groups. If that’s your idea of a typical terrorist, then think again.
You may be surprised to know that 23-year old Ngerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who tried to blow up Delta (NorthWest) Flight 253 as the aircraft was approaching to land in Detroit, USA is not poor, and not depressed.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab comes from a wealthy family. His father is Dr Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a former economics minister in the government of Nigeria. He is also a very respected banker.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is well educated. He studied in University College London (UCL) and graduated with an engineering degree. But is he the first educated person to carry out a terrorist attack? No, there are several other just as educated as him.
Now, thanks to the Independent of London, we notice the following:
1. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, convicted of abducting and murdering American journalist Daniel Pearl is a London School of Economics graduate. Now, why would he do such a barbaric act today?
2. Al Qaeda scientist, Pakistani Affia Siddiqui, studied microbiology at MIT and did graduate work in neurology at Brandeis.
3. 9/11 lead hijacker Mohammed Atta went to Hamburg University to study urban planning.
4. Osama bin Laden did a summer school stint at Oxford University.
5. Seven upper-middle-class jihadi doctors were implicated in the 2007 London/Glasgow bombings.
6. Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed enrolled at Chowan College in Murfreesburo, N.C., before transferring to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he earned his degree in mechanical engineering along with 30 other Muslims
And the list goes on. The truth is that today’s terrorists are different from yesterday’s. They are well educated, and well indoctrinated. No longer are they from the poor and depressed people. Rather they are university graduates.
But the question can also be asked: Are terror groups like al Qaeda running out of the typical poor and depressed volunteers wishing to place their lives in the name of jihad? Or are they succeeding in attracteing the educated instead? Time will tell.
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