Denman,That of course is interesting but really it is the story...

Denman,

That of course is interesting but really it is the story of an intelligent and well educated young man who became a religious fanatic.

We tend to think that all fanatics are poorly educated people who can be easily indoctrinated. That I would suggest is not the case, and this young man's story also indicates that is not so.

Religious fanatics whether they are of the Christian, Muslim, Hindu or other persausion all display to a great degree that young man's attitude.

God and his "laws" become the all consuming passion of their lives and in the case where you effectively have a state religion any perceived influence that might weaken those laws is not only dishonouring, to ones god, but is also to be resisted to the death. This no doubt is intended,in this case, to keep a smile on the face of Allah.

When I was a boy, Evangelical Christians had a few special "sins" that for all intents and purposes defined you as either belonging to God, if you kept from them, or put you firmly in the outer darkness camp if you indulged. So though belief was important it had to be authenticated by what you didn't do.

Thus a person, who wore lipstick (ie a woman,the limp wristed were never mentioned in polite society in those days) went to movies or dances, drank alcohol (all these being sources of potential "immorality") or smoked, (damaging your God given body) were most certainly on the broad road to "hell" and were either shunned or prayed for.

Now in Western society we have forgotten that era but I would suggest that the young Iraqi man was operating along similar lines. He would I suggest be very antagonistic to the Western "permissive " life style. He would also be afraid it might overwhelm his country. He may have even observed it in some of the US soldiers or even beginning to take hold in Iraq (have read of reports of porno movie houses opening in Baghdad and being bombed by faithful Islamists).

Now I would suggest that if you could have talked to that young man you would have found that was part of his growing antipathy toward the US, reinforced by his fear of the likelihood of the "Westernisation" of his country (remember the "worldly" music that kept him from worshipping god).

Iraq as contrasted with Afghanistan is more secular and he may not represent the majority but I doubt that any segment of Iraqi society would be ready to fully embrace, for example, the feminist, permissive and largely individualistic lifestyle of the West. That means great care and religious sensitivity will have to be exercised ,in these areas, by the Coalition as the nation moves towards sovereignty.

Denman that young man is really a sample of the very essence of fundamentalist extremism which cannot or does not want to live in the "degenerate" world of the infidel. That world, Islamically is eventually the whole earth for that sort of fanatic. (ie. the idea that "this world is God's world").

Blowing himself and others up is,to his mind honouring to his god but that's exactly the sort of thing the US is fighting against in Iraq right now.