As the world try to come to terms with the almost tragedy on the US jetliner from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas this year, and as air passengers grapple with new inconveniencing security measures as a result, I cant help finding some interesting links that are missing on the boy’s life.
President Obama has issued two statements since the incident, latest admitting ‘human, systemic failure’ on the part of security apparatus. It is evident that this incident is of grave concern to the US and the world at large.
The following are quick facts and gleanings I learnt from interviews on CNN and BBC on school mates, neighbor and college friends of the Terror Boy reveals:
Name: Umar Farouk Abdumutallab
Social Background:
Affluent Nigerian family with lots of political connections. Father is a former Nigerian banker, successful and wealthy.
(Osama bin laden come from a wealthy background too)
Schooling:
British Curricula in an exclusive School in Lome, Togo, and College London School. He studied Engineering. Later went to Sanaa, Yemen to study Arabic. Most likely he was being inducted into Al Qaeda
Religion:
Abdumutallab was a Devout Muslim, quiet and prayerful. Friends describe him as not missing prayers at the mosque. Interview with a street neighbor on BBC in his Abuja home reveals a humble young man who was the first one at the Mosque and the last to leave. Teachers reveal that he was nicknamed ‘Pope’ because of his devotion.
Political affiliations:
Much is not known, likely that he was not politically active. Was the President of the Islamic students in his second year at university in London
Social Life:
Not much is revealed. Possibly a recluse. Coming from a wealthy background, he is expected to have enjoyed life, hang out, clubbing but it seems his life revolved around prayers and the Mosque. This is a pointer to a boy who is trying to understand and strike a balance with his religion at a young age. (This an obvious trouble spot) Father was alarmed with his extremist views and reported his fears to the CIA and Nigerian authorities. The CIA did not pass on the information.
Interview with his former school mate reveals that they discussed foot ball and academics like all ‘other normal kids’ but was generally a quiet young man. His radicalization can be traced to these introspections at such a tender age.
It is yet unknown how close Abdumutallab was to his parents. The Washington Post exposed online postings by Abdumutallab in a Muslim Forum under the username Farouk 86 dating back to 2005. Abdumutallab consistently posted that he was lonely, depressed and had nobody to turn to.
One CONSPICUOUS missing link is that Abdumutallab did not have any GIRLFRIEND. This is not normal for a teenager and later tweeny with means, good education in prestigious institutions, and looks (that boy is handsome and gals might be saying, look! What a wasted man)
One other missing link that is yet to be filled is the books that Abdumutallab read apart from academic texts and probably who supplied them. At his age, basing on my own experience and the behaviors of college students in general (Iran protests for instance) this is the time that people are most ideologically impressionable. I remember reading political books and getting so heated up I felt like killing dictators of the time in Kenya. Books can easily warp at his age. Some philosophical books used to make me withdrawn and broody in college.
Muslim parents and indeed all parents have a new worry in town, overzealousness to religion by kids. Religious up-bringing has long been hailed as a must for bringing up upright children. But how far our kids embrace religion is now a worry.
In as much as his actions are repugnant, I pity Abdumutallab. I don’t condone terrorism and mass murders whatsoever but the psychological predisposition of this boy calls for scrutiny.
I hope the American authorities will try to get to the bottom of his Al Qaeda connections and further try to reconstruct the psychology that surrounds religious fundamentalism that drove this Nigerian boy to attempt this heinous act. I appeal for leniency on his case. I feel for his concerned father and his innocent family in general. I can imagine the agony they are going through.
In the Palestine, suicide bombers are celebrated as martyrs, their parents feted with gifts. I doubt that his parents are celebrating with a wall hanging ‘we have a terrorist in our family!’
I wonder what is driving our youth to suicide bombings and cheap ‘martyrdom’ by the thousands. The war on terror cannot be won till we devote some time and resources to understand their psychology and grievance.
No comments:
Post a Comment