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Contributors
Daniel Pipes- Contributor
Daniel
Pipes is director of the Middle
East Forum, a member of the
presidentially-appointed board of the U.S.
Institute of Peace,
and a prize-winning columnist for the New York Sun and The
Jerusalem Post. His most recent book, Miniatures:
Views of Islamic and Middle Eastern Politics (Transaction
Publishers) appeared in late 2003. His website, DanielPipes.org,
the single most accessed source of information specifically
on
the Middle East and Islam, offers an archive and a chance
to sign-up to receive his new materials as they appear. [go
to Pipes index]
 The
California Suicide Bomber
The jihadists amongst us...
[Daniel Pipes] 4/6/05
According to a remarkable article
by Scott Macleod in the April 4 issue of Time Magazine,
the suicide bomber who carried off the worst atrocity in Iraq
since the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime was a 32-year-old
Jordanian who had lived for two years in California.
Ra'ed Mansour al-Banna was born in Jordan in 1973 and grew up
in a religious, economically prosperous merchant family. He studied
law at the university, graduating in 1996, and then started his
own law practice in the Jordanian capital of Amman. After three
years, he gave it up and in 1999 he worked a half year without
pay for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in
Amman, helping Iraqis who fled Saddam Hussein's tyranny.
In 2001, sometime
before 9/11, Banna received a visa and moved to the United
States, where he apparently lived in California
for nearly two years, moving from one unskilled job to another factory
worker, bus driver, and pizza maker. According
to his father, Ra'ed even worked "in one of the Californian
airports." If Ra'ed did not make it economically, he seemed to
fit in well, traveling to such destinations as the Golden Gate
Bridge and the World Trade Center, growing his hair long, and
taking up American popular music. Photographs sent to his family
in Jordan show Banna eating a crab dinner, walking on a beach
in California, mounted on a motorcycle, and standing in front
of a military helicopter while holding an American flag. He even
planned to marry a Christian woman until her parents demanded
that the wedding take place in a church.
Banna apparently loved
America, reporting back to his family about the people's honesty
and kindness; "They respect anybody
who is sincere." Talal Naser, a young man engaged to one of Ra'ed's
sisters, explained how Ra'ed "loved life in America, compared
to Arab countries. He wanted to stay there." His father, Mansour, recounted that,
despite the September 11 attacks, Ra'ed "faced no problems with
his American workmates, who liked him."
Banna visited home in 2003 but on his return to the United States
he was denied entry, accused of falsifying details on a visa
application. He returned to Jordan and became withdrawn, holing
up in a makeshift studio apartment, sleeping late, and displaying
a new interest in religion. He began praying five times a day
and listening to the Koran. In November 2004, he went on pilgrimage
to Mecca, returning to Saudi Arabia in January 2005.
On Jan. 27, Banna crossed into Syria, presumably on the way
to Iraq. He apparently spent February with Sunni jihadis in Iraq,
during which time he called home several times, with the last
call on about Feb. 28.
Feb. 28 also happens
to be the date when Banna suited up as a suicide bomber and
blew himself up at a health clinic in Al-Hilla,
killing 132 people and injuring 120, the worst such attack of
the 136 suicide bombings that have taken place since May 2003.
On March 3, the family received a call informing them of Ra'ed's
fate. "Congratulations, your brother has fallen a martyr."
A friend revealed
that Banna became politically radicalized against American
policies in the Muslim world while living in
the United States. He was especially distraught about developments
in Iraq. A neighbor, Nassib Jazzar, recalled Banna upset with
the coalition occupation. "He felt that the Arabs didn't have
honor and freedom.'"
The father notes that
Ra'ed wore Western-style clothing, rarely went to mosque, and
was ignorant of the names of local sheikhs. "I am shocked by
all of this because my son was a very quiet man, not very religious
and more interested in pursuing his law profession and building
a future for himself."
As Time cautiously concludes from this tale,
On the basis of
accounts given by his family, friends and neighbors, Ra'ed
apparently led a double life, professing affection
for America while secretly preparing to join the holy war against
the U.S. in Iraq. "Something went wrong with Ra'ed, and it
is a deep mystery," says his father Mansour, 56. "What happened
to my son?"
Ra'ed al-Banna's biography inspires several observations:
(1) When it comes
to Islamist terrorists, appearances often deceive. That Banna
was said to "love life in America," be "not
very religious," and be interested in "building a future for
himself" obviously indicated nothing about his real thinking
and purposes. The same pattern recurs in the biographies of many
other jihadis.
(2) Moving to the West often spurs Muslims to despise the West
more than they did before they got there. This appears to be
what happened with Banna.
(3) Taking up the Islamist cause, even to the point of sacrificing
one's life for it, usually happens in a discreet manner, quite
unobservable even to a person's closest relatives.
In brief, Banna's evolution confirms the
point I have made repeatedly about the regrettable but
urgent need to keep an eye on all potential Islamists and jihadis,
which is to say Muslims. tRO
This
piece first appeared at FrontPage Magazine
copyright
2005 Daniel Pipes
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