Why So Many Terrorists Get Their Start as Engineers

Sphere ^ | December 29, 2009 | Russell Berman

[1rudeboy]

(Dec. 29) -- Of all the biographical details that have emerged about the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet on Christmas, perhaps the least surprising -- at least to those who study these things -- is what he studied in college.

The terrorist suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, earned a degree in mechanical engineering from University College London in 2008, just over a year before he tried to demonstrate his skills by detonating an explosive device aboard the Detroit-bound plane. Among violent Islamic extremists, that puts him in familiar company. Indeed, the propensity toward engineering studies is an aspect of the terrorist profile that has drawn increased scrutiny of late from scholars, who have been advancing theories about the high correlation between the two.

In a study published this year, European sociologists Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog researched more than 400 known violent jihadists since the 1970s, including the 25 men involved with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Nearly half were known to have received some level of higher education, and of those, 44 percent were engineers -- including eight of the 9/11 plotters and hijackers. Engineering was by far the most popular field; the percentage of terrorists who had pursued it was more than twice as high as the second-place field, Islamic studies.

"The bottom line is that while the probability of a Muslim engineer becoming a violent Islamist is minuscule, it is still between three and four times that for other graduates," Gambetta wrote in an article in the New Scientist that summarized the pair's findings, which were published in August in the European Journal of Sociology.

[Reily]

I think at West Point you get a BS in General Engineering if you don't actually specify your major.

[Republic of Texas]

IRA is disbanded and the Tamil’s don’t bomb US planes. Unless we’re Sri Lankan, they’re irrelevant to this discussion. Btw, Bozo is a name and should be capitalized.

[ansel12]

I thought so, but didn’t want to chance over stating it, wasn’t that the case until recent decades? One writer said that they changed it because of females.

[r9etb]

IRA is disbanded

Wrong.

Tamil’s don’t bomb US planes. Unless we’re Sri Lankan, they’re irrelevant to this discussion.

Irrelevant except for the fact that they're terrorists who are not Muslim, hence your loud "ALL" is proved wrong.

Btw, Bozo is a name and should be capitalized.

Actually, bozo, it's a euphemism for "idiot," which is not capitalized, both of which apply to you in all their uncapitalized glory.

[redgolum]

Hmm.

Judging from the conversations I have had with some of my buddies, it is because of how engineers approach problems.

[redgolum]

Let me guess, you are not an engineer.

[1rudeboy]

Interesting historical factoid: apart from the Japanese kamikazes, one can safely argue that the Tamils invented the art of modern suicide-bombing.

[The Comedian]

Because all the Education PhD's are busy ghost writing fake autobiographies for Manchurian Democrats?

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[Chode]

if you want to destroy things, it's easier if you know how they are built...

[Erasmus]

I think what did it for me was the ozone from my Lionel trains getting into to my brain.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Well, they often design products that can inspire raw terror.

[1010RD]

Given the worldwide Muslim population, that they could only find 400 violent jihadis since the 1970s to study is amazing.

[Soothesayer9]

My first Computer Sci course was C++, which I also took with about 13 arab & indian students, and after 3 hours my brain would just shut down since I had to work for 7 hours a day and then attend class/study. The arabs on the other hand didn’t have to work..dad back in Saudi was paying it all, so they had much less demands placed on them.

I did notice that none of them liked any of us Americans who were studying alongside them in/outside of class. And many of the Muslim students had a strange “scent” to them that was noticeable withing 5 feet. To this day I have idea if this was because they didn’t bathe or if they used some kind of herbs with their worship ritual.

[Moe Tzadik]

Maybe, Floating a houseboat against a dam packed with high explosives scuttle it, then detonate below water

That's pretty good, but a Muslim would...

1) radio first saying there's a white male terrorist who's gonna blow the dam and they're going in to stop him.
2) when all the first responders show up, they blow it killing the first responders too.
3) The Muslim's co-conspirators in the 'civil-rights' organizations issue PR after PR trumpeting the 'hero' Muslims who gave their lives along with the first responders in an effort to save critical infrastructure. They would then call this Oklahoma city II.

Hire another muslim jihadi for DHS (for diversity's sake) send an FBI team out to the local Arab festival to schmooze and recruit, and we're done!

America 2010.

[1010RD]

Perhaps the key is in famly background — not country of origin.

Or maybe, adding religion, a toxic mix of all 3: Family/Status, Country of Origin/Culture, and Religion.

Although, Arab culture was not particularly violent prior to Muhammad.

[Republic of Texas]

Enjoy moron, enjoy. You are too ignorant to argue with.

[Republic of Texas]

I’m sure you need to go pray to allah now.

[Nepeta]

Just goes to show you how valuable engineers are to any organization they join, regardless of the position they take! After all, by training, engineers are professional problem solvers, and the best are also innovative thinkers.

It used to drive my chem e ex-husband crazy when I could solve practical problems of design and organization in more economical and elegant ways than he proposed. It would make him even crazier to know that after we went our separate ways the kind of grades I got in calculus and physical chemistry.

Not all engineers are created equally. Some aren't very good.

[1010RD]

That's the core problem, isn't it. Most Muslims will never resort to terrorism,ever. The number that do are, relative to the population of Muslims statistically insignificant (although, the events they participate in are horrific, autos are more dangerous than Jihadis - for the most part Jihadis are failures).

Now I am not discounting the threat of a nuclear and/or chemical attack. Iran most certainly is a very serious threat as are technically skilled, wealthy and well networked Jihadis.

The core policy problem is that the Left simply wants to ignore the way Muhammad changed Arab culture - making it incredibly violent and defining believers as valuable and unbelievers as nothing or worse - a menace to be destroyed.

Until we overthrow PCness and profile we won't be able to manage terrorism while maintaining liberty. The Left absences reason at every course.

[sefarkas]

Pretty tough to stop once the tools are available

Which begs the question about what is it with commercial airliners? Just trying to drive the flying public insane with useless TSA procedures? The scenarios you describe would have significant economic consequences and seem far less trouble than working under a blanket. So why do they focus on commercial aircraft? What is really going on? I like the coincidence that once the health care vote was done, we are conveniently distracted by an amateurish attempt at mayhem.