Juliet Obasuyi was worried because his son, Michael Adebowale, had become so different from his sister, "a good Christian with a degree." Michael Adebowale, the terrorist who, along with Michael Adebolajo, slaughtered the British soldier Lee Rigby in the heart of London, had a bright future in front of him.
The British newspapers released a photograph of Adebowale at school, smiling at the camera. That photograph tells everything about the deep hatred these terrorists feel for the West.
At school, teachers had chosen Adebowale as a "model student" and he had been assigned the task of writing a special theatrical play against violence between immigrants and street gangs. A warning to others.
The biographies of terrorists and suicide bombers have become a literary genre since September 11. The Los Angeles Times published a memorable portrait of Mohammed Atta. Now we begin to put together the biographical pieces of the puzzle of Woolwhich's terrorists, young Nigerian Christians converted to Islam to whom the British public school had tried to inculcate good values of tolerance.
"Tobi", as Michael was known at school, had no special gift for sports and physical activities. So Michael developed a natural talent in working with teachers, in assembling the group. In short, a "model student", as he is repeatedly described. At school, Michael was known as "the joker", the one who makes jokes, who smiles and entertains the others.
Mohammed, who will blow up in Edgware Road, is smiling and makes the sign of victory; near him is the mild "Khaka", the mass murderer in Aldgate.
A classmate, Luqman Ciise, Twittered about Michael: "He was smiling all the time". The future terrorist collected all the books by Jamie Oliver, the chef best known in the UK, and he exchanged these with a neighbor.
It is the same portrait as that of Michael Adebolajo. The adjectives that recur most about him are "nice", "friendly", "polite", "he always wanted to help everyone". If you change the dates, names and places you have the portraits of the bombers of July 7, 2005. Because these terrorists were Europe's best Muslims.
There is a photograph of Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shahzad Tanweer, the two "martyrs of Allah" that unleashed hell in the heart of London in 2005. The future terrorists are rafting at Canolfan Tryweryn. Mohammed, who will blow up in Edgware Road, is smiling and makes the sign of victory; near him is the mild "Khaka", the mass murderer in Aldgate. The photo was taken on June 4, thirty-three days before they became showcase explosives and destroyed the lives of 52 people.
Shahzad was "sweet and smiling", "with an extraordinary sense of humor and not interested in politics." Mohammed Sadique Khan worked as a teacher in a center for disabled children, where his wife is in charge of education. In 2002, Khan had given an interview to the Times education supplement: "Happiness? When my students say that this is the best school they ever were in, I feel fulfilled. " It was not yet the man that would define England as "Dar al Harb", the land of battle.
In a test for a job in a school, Khan defined himself in this way: "Young worker, I have good experience in working with children with social difficulties. I can have an excellent relationship with young people and I always try to talk to them. " Khan would be working for free in the community which fought drug addiction and was hired at an elementary school, the Hillside Primary Leeds, to work with children with family difficulties and learning problems. And he is described in a note this way: "He is great with kids and everyone loves him."
As it is with Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh, one of the murderers of Daniel Pearl, the envoy of the Wall Street Journal slain in 2002. The images show a smiling good boy, the son of a rich merchant of oriental carpets.
Like Mohamed Atta, Adebowale and Adebolajo had not known a day of poverty. Like almost all other Islamic terrorists. The Vulgate says that these fanatics are enrolled among the oppressed of the planet, because it is the fault of the West that has created huge pockets of poverty and despair. The biographies of the two terrorists of Woolwich say otherwise.
Note the story of Abdul Mutallab, who on Christmas Day of 2009 tried to take the lives of 278 passengers aboard an American airliner. The smiling son of the chairman of a Nigerian bank, the British terrorist enjoyed the trappings of a wealthy upbringing and was privately educated in a highly regarded international boarding school.
Adebowale and Adebolajo are also reminiscent of Mohammed Bouyeri, who slew Theo van Gogh on an Amsterdam street. "Mo", as Bouyeri was known to all, was a "promising" and "positive" boy, who worked hard for his career and family. Mohammed B. was a true nerd. While his Moroccan friends played football, "Mo" was focused on books. In his free time, Mohammed worked as a volunteer in the district community center.
All these European-born terrorists smile. They smile all the time. In a video discovered in 2006 in Afghanistan, Mohammed Atta, the 9/11 mastermind, is smiling, joking and laughing to the camera. In court, Hakim Awad, butcher of the Fogel family in Itamar, always smiled at the camera, just like Atta did. Awad said he has “no regrets” and flashed the "V" sign for victory while he was leaving the courthouse.
The mastermind of the Bali terrorist attacks, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, has been called “the laughing bomber.”
In 2005, a video was released of the Beslan school siege, showing terrorists laughing as hundreds of pupils, their families and teachers were herded at gunpoint into the school gym rigged with explosives.
These terrorists' obscene laughter shows a primitive hatred for Israel and Western values. I saw the same sneering smile in 2007, when a photo album containing 116 rare photographs of senior Nazi officials at the Auschwitz concentration camp was made public by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Josef Mengele, the camp doctor notorious for his medical experiments, is smiling, while the nearby gas chambers are operating in Birkenau.