Will be interesting to see how this case plays out. My life intersects this guys life in some weird coincidences.
First, the kid went to school at the Islamic Foundation in Villa Park, IL. That was my grade school back in the day, High Ridge. District 45 sold the school to the Islamic Foundation. My middle school, Jackson, and my high school, Willowbrook surround the Islamic Foundation.
The Foundation hasn’t been militant to my knowledge. There have been a few incidents surrounding it, but mostly it’s intolerant people attacking the foundation, not the other way around.
The bomber decided to bomb Cactus by the Chicago Board of Trade. Cactus used to be a hopping bar back in the day when actual traders worked the floors of the exchanges. Friday afternoon it would be wall to wall people in there. The motto of Cactus was always, “Trade Globally but Drink Locally”. If he would have detonated that bomb circa 2000, it would have been a different story.
It is impossible for me to listen to the bomber’s attorney make excuses for him. From what I can gather, the FBI didn’t entrap him. He was ready to blow up a bunch of people in the name of Islam.
It is very hard to wrap your head around this terrorism thing. In the US, we just aren’t cultured toward it. Even after 9/11, the war on Terror and all the rest, I think it’s hard for US citizens to think that there are people out there that would engage in terror to get their way. It’s just not in our DNA.
But, it’s a fact and when I heard today that Romney said the Palestinians aren’t interested in peace at any price with Israel, I agree with him. It’s the truth. The only way the Palestinians will be satisfied is if they get rid of Israel altogether. The Muslim Brotherhood, Syria, Iran, and the more conservative Muslims all think this way. Their problems would be solved if they just got rid of the Jews.
There are Muslims that are tolerant, but they seem to be in the minority. If they are around, I sure wish they would make a bigger deal about it.
Anyway, it’s too bad for the Islamic Foundation. My grade school is gone. But I hope they are teaching the same tolerance at their school that they did at mine. Makes for a better neighborhood.