from personal observation, from reading data on other walking bomb-o-grams, and from reading Eric Hoffer's excellent "True Believer", I would say that the above description fits the classic profile of the Useful Idiot and common target of conversion to radical religions.
Rep. Cole stated, “We do have a person that has a long documented history of having a very troubled past. It's a person that had been isolated, who seemed a little bit odd. Who, according to his brother, had frequently been teased and tormented as a young person by fellow students. Sort of classic loner, who didn't fit in.”
Is that true, or merely the "spin" developed for him after the fact, so that he can be dismissed as a "loner"?
Funny. I'm an oddball clasical loner. I've never fallen for anyones dogma. Especially to a point where I'd blow myself up.
John Walker Lindh is a troubled loner who had a hard time fitting in. As is Richard Reid. As is the Aussie convert in Guantanamo. As is that idiot in Maine.
White converts to Islam are, as a general rule, troubled loners.
Additionally, his father's denials are particularly hollow.
If his son was capable of blowing himself to bits like this, he was capable of converting to a religion which encourages such behavior.
I suspect that when he converted to Islam, the last person he would have told about it was his father.