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I'm totally confused! His parents are Jewish. I assume he is Jewish. He has an aunt who I would assume is Jewish married to an Arab who I would assume is Muslim.

The parents are anti-war, anti-Bush.

The son is raised in the east but goes to college in the MidWest, Oklahoma. Oklahoma was the place where Timmy McVeigh blew up the Federal Building. Nick somehow lends his email address to one of the left out hijackers.

He goes to Iraqi. The other countries he visited, I believe also contain many Muslim fanatics.

The parents immediately blame President Bush and the father confers with John Kerry.

Meanwhile in Iraq, he seems to change his appearance from the "McVeigh" look (shaved head, no beard) to either a Muslim or Jewish look (curly hair, trimmed beard).

If you made this stuff up no one would believe it. It's like a Clancy novel.

I've gotta brain cramp!

I am sure Teddy Kennedy will be able to get air time to announce that this was a Right Wing Conspiracy!

This isn't passing my smell test!

In a funny way it makes sense. You have:

An idealistic young man who is looking for adventure and willing to travel to get it (family or someone has money). He is a lukewarm Jew, but likes the idea of having a cause/religion. He travels to Iraq because he has distant family there, and is willing to visit them to see what he can do to help them. He leaves Iraq and returns a few weeks later to see if he can get a job to help out. He is a devout Jew for awhile, then starts to investigate Islam (that is why he had the Koran), also it is the prominent religion in the country he was in. He wants to learn Arabic because a lot of people use that language in Iraq (is it the same as Parsi?) This is a normal activity for an intellectual American 26 year old male. It is indiscreet, but then I was also indiscreet at 26.