Amid all the furor over Islamic terrorism in
Take, for example, the family members of
The Times then noted of Fehda herself: "In 2011, on the 10th anniversary of the
Farook's father gave an interview to the Italian newspaper La Stampa shortly after his son's murderous rampage. He matter-of-factly remarked, "My son said that he shared [Islamic State leader
If true, the elder Farook, who was welcomed into
For that matter, what are we to make of Farook's mother, who lived in the same rented townhouse with the two killers? She claimed that she knew nothing of her family's bomb-making and stockpiling of weapons inside the small home. Farook, it should be noted, enjoyed a comfortable job with the state of
The parents of the Boston Marathon bombers are Dagestan natives and former Chechnya residents who applied for asylum to
The Tsarnaev family was welcomed in
Before the bombing, Russian intelligence had warned U.S. authorities about the radicalization of Tamerlan and, reportedly, his mother. Shortly after the bombings, the Mr. and Mrs. Tsarnaev moved back to Chechnya, apparently without facing the dangers that they claimed had forced them to move to America in the first place.
The bombers' mother, Zubeidat, had lots to say about her once-adopted
Perhaps no terrorist has done more damage to
Before al-Awlaki was killed by a drone in
Al-Awlaki's father, Nasser, frequently defended his son, denying that he had any ties to radical Islamic terrorism.
In almost all of these cases there is a monotonous narrative. Muslims arrive from abroad, often citing dangers at home and new opportunities in America. They are treated well, frequently being offered public assistance, university admittance, scholarships or government jobs. Their children become "radicalized." (Note that this is a passive term rather than an active one -- as if mysterious forces rather than free will turn someone into a killer.) After the murders, relatives claim that they knew little of such transformations. On occasion, they contextualize the violence.
It seems inconceivable that family members could be oblivious to the radicalization of a loved one when it transpires right under their noses -- particularly in the cases where a parent's U.S.-born children visit the
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Victor Davis Hanson, a classicist and military historian, is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a recipient of the 2007 National Humanities Medal.