Engineering Jihad

"I don't know if he spoke to other, closer friends about his more ideological interests, but with me it was that he was worried about finishing [his degree]. He felt a certain financial pressure to finish as soon as possible because he did not have a bursary. They were the ordinary preoccupations of a student."
Driss Mrabet, graduate student, Universite Laval

What is it about young men from Middle East countries and their almost universal penchant to come to North America to study engineering? Why is engineering of such a magnetic pull to young Muslim men? Is it an odd quirk that relates somehow to the penchant for other young Muslim men to test the tensile strength, chemical combustibility, and engineering bona fides of those who construct Western buildings?

One thinks of the World Trade Center, and of other buildings world-wide, inclusive of the London Metro, Spain's train system, and Indonesia's luxury hotels, along with India's Mumbai transportation hub and hotels. Of course there are also attacks on synagogues, on churches and mosques as well. Boom, and down they come. Does knowledge of engineering help? What is this fascination with engineering?

Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, both living in Canada, one a permanent resident albeit refused citizenship due to his criminal record, the other a doctoral student at a research arm of the Universite du Quebec were fascinated with trains as well. Their aspiration was to inflict mortal damage on innocent Via Rail passengers as a symbol of the repugnance that Canada aroused in them.

Ahmed Abassi, the engineering student, recruited Chiheb Esseghaier to violent jihad. Finding success in that radicalization he travelled on to New York City to work his magic on other potential jihadists. A strange way to repay the privileges granted him in Canada where he arrived in 2010 from Tunisia. Working toward a graduate degree in chemical engineering in Quebec City, marrying a young Tunisian woman.

Marked quickly by U.S. authorities as a terrorist intending to "commit acts of terror and develop a network of terrorists here, and to use this country as a base to support the efforts of terrorists internationally", he is in custody. Charged with two counts of fraudulently applying for a U.S. work visa to enable him to commit acts of terrorism, he faces 25 years on each count, should he be convicted.

"I think Canada has frankly had a much less serious problem with terrorist-related security threats and home-grown terrorism than many other Western countries including the United States. Having said that, we can [not] and must not be complacent", commented Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

Now he's done it, and it's too late to retract; there's just something about crowing about how fortunate we've been, to turn the tide of fortune and history, and decidedly not in our favour.