What happened to Farouk?

So Yemen is about to become the new member of the axis of evil. There are clearly some issues with the rising presence of extreme Muslim organisations (Al Queda spring-offs or others) there and their worldwide recruiting efforts. A new wave of blind hate.

It remains a serious mystery and a worrying fact that the son of a very rich Nigerian banker becomes a suicide terrorist in just a few years time. Just like that. Grows up without social issues. Gets top class education in Nigeria, the British International School in Togo and then in London. No money worries. A decent future more or less guaranteed. A life path that many kids of his age can just dream of. And then something changed.

The web of international terrorists using the Muslim faith as rallying cry got him tangled. How does a smart young man with neither social nor financial troubles get attracted by a killing hate? What’s the trigger towards such mad act? Why leave a decent life full of prospects and hope, to enter a dark world of dusty training camps and to agree to blow yourself up together with plenty of totally innocent people. You can dislike the US for its foreign policy. You can dislike Western culture. You can dislike capitalism. But from dislike – after having fully benefitted from its “fruits” – to becoming a once-off killing machine is a hell of a step to take. It’s evil madness.

What did happen to Farouk? What made him leave his comfortable life and go to Yemen to become a suicide bomber? What made him step onto the Amsterdam-Detroit flight with a desire to kill himself together with innocent people. Young and old victims. Americans and many other nationalities. Muslims, Christians, agnostics,... Why? Why? Why?

Trying to understand what is the trigger that makes a bright youngster switch of and become pretty seriously indoctrinated into a merciless killer and suicide bomber. It’s a very baffling reality.

Human behaviour in a very dark spot.

And Yemen is certainly not on a healthy path. A poor country amidst a sea of oil wealth. Neighbour of the biggest oil producer, Saudi Arabia,... also the birthplace of Bin Laden. It seems that some of the Al Queda officers that trained alongside Bin Laden are now based in Yemen. And the other Yemeni neighbour lies across the Gulf of Aden,... the lawless Somalia. It’s a very unstable part of the globe. Yemen itself is fighting a civil war in the north and a secession battle in the south. And it has strong tribal alliances – just like in Afghanistan and Pakistan. A tribal labyrinth where the central authority means nothing. The US and Saudi Arabia are currently helping Yemen fighting its many wars and on top of that are also helping in tackling the growing Al Queda presence. And let’s not forget that the US naval ship, the USS Cole, got attacked in Yemen some years ago. It’s all very shaky and rocky. 2010 Could be a very unstable year for Yemen. It wouldn’t come as a surprise that the US “presence” in Yemen will very soon increase: financial aid (how much will end up in the right hands?), military and intelligence instructors, weapons, coordinated airstrikes in alliance with worried Saudi Arabia, more naval ships in the Gulf of Aden – already plenty of US Navy presence there to hunt for Somali pirates.

But there is nothing concrete with direct impact Washington can do? Invade Yemen? Let’s not go there. It would be another Somalia visit. Black Hawk Down – part 2. And anyway it would lead to what? The Taliban is still very much alive (unfortunately) in Afghanistan and has even grown in neighbouring Pakistan.

The immediate steps are obviously increased security at airports. But there will always be gaps and always new ways of putting a bomb together from basic stuff. Sad but true.

Re-visit the warning systems and existing suspects’ lists. There certainly can be improvement there. Apparently Farouk was on a so called extended watch list, but that did not stop him from boarding a transatlantic flight.

And more work and spy activities and research and investigations and infiltrations in the worldwide networks of terrorist recruitment. It’s clearly the 21st Century's challenge.

And certainly abandoning blind, simplistic profiling. Remember, Farouk was rich and well-educated. It’s madness. Sheer terror on an insane level.

Being a Muslim from Nigeria who made some visit or even some phone calls to Yemen looks like an unhealthy situation today.

Human behaviour is sometimes walking evil paths. Indoctrinated and brainwashed into senseless killing.

What’s the purpose of blowing yourself up on a plane full of innocent lives? Is there any logic explanation? Religious influence in pulling that mental trigger to go down that path is clearly present. Religion is a deadly virus. All religions. Be it the Spanish invading Latin America some centuries ago with the sword in one hand and the Bible in the other. Or South Africa’s apartheid government finding justification in the Bible for its delirious policy. Or the 9/11 bombers finding strength in the Quran. Or the Palestinian finding guidance in the Quran before detonating himself in a crowded Israeli shopping mall. Or the Israeli hardliners finding reason in their scriptures for taking Palestinian land and blockading the Palestinians in the Gaza strip like caged animals. Less than animals in fact. Religion is too often used for death and destruction. For hate. For a feeling of superiority. For war. For brainwashing. For the suppression of equal rights for women. Religion sucks.

But what happened to Farouk? It remains a mystery. And how many more Farouks are there out there. From bright scholar to killing foe. From brightness to darkness. From smart to deaf, dumb and blind. From human to inhuman.

Human behaviour is worrying.

As a breather some lighter note, despite it being about a bank robber. Xmas stress. Financial stress. A 28 year old Swiss man robbed a bank to be able to afford xmas presents. For real! He was armed and had a mask on. He got away with lots of cash but the Swiss police caught him at home thanks to sniffing dogs. An extra juicy bone for the dogs as xmas present!

2010 Looks scary. Hope and disillusion in the same cocktail mix.

Throw out. Saw the band’s name passing by some time ago but didn’t listen to them. Done it now. Jackson United’s 2nd release “Harmony And Dissidence” was released last year. The band is a side project by Chris Shiflett from Foo Fighters fame (and also from No Use For A Name and Me First And The Gimme Gimmes). Chris’ brother Scott, from Face To Face, plays bass. And Chris convinced his old friend and Foo-mate Dave Grohl (now playing with Them Crooked Vultures) to go behind the drums again for this album – at least for some of the tracks. The drums on the other songs are hit by Foo Fighters stickman Taylor Hawkins. So there’s a lot of Foo Fighters connections here. Jackson United’s 2nd release brings powerful rock with touches of punk, some hints of powerpop, and some snippets of ska here and there. Some tracks have organ and piano as extra, delivered by Rami Jaffee who has recorded with The Wallflowers, Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters. So this Jackson United project brings together musicians with pretty good rock / punkrock credentials. It’s a reasonably good listen.

C-Ya

collateral – as December 2009 and the whole of 2009 draw to a close. As today slides into history and tomorrow looks uncertain.