That was the verdict Tuesday from the jury in the terrorism case of Tarek Mehanna.

The jury in Boston convicted him of conspiring to help al-Qaeda and plotting to kill US soldiers in Iraq.

After Tuesday’s verdict, the 29-year-old defendant could be sentenced to life in a prison.

Prosecutors in the case said that Mehanna was born and raised in a Boston suburb and traveled to Yemen to attend a training camp.

His defense lawyers said it was to study Islam.

Anchor Marco Werman talks to David Cole, professor of Law at the Georgetown University, about the verdict.

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Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman, this is The World. Guilty on all counts — that was the verdict today from a jury in the terrorism case of Tarek Mehanna. The jury in Boston convicted him of conspiring to help al-Qaeda and plotting to kill US soldiers in Iraq. After today’s verdict, the 29-year-old defendant could be sentenced to life in prison. As we reported yesterday, Tarek Mehanna was born in the US and raised in a Boston suburb. Prosecutors said he traveled to Yemen to attend a terrorist training camp. His defense lawyer said it was to study Islam. Both sides agree that after returning to the US Mehanna began translating al-Qaeda documents and distributing them on the internet. David Cole is a law professor at Georgetown University. So the verdict of guilty came in part as we said as a result of Mehanna’s translating documents, and the prosecution said that was material support of terrorism. What’s your reaction to that?

David Cole: Well, the statute under which he was prosecuted, the material support statute, is remarkably broad and defines material support to terrorist organizations to include not just the provision of arms and the provision of money, or the provision of any kind of tangible aid, but also through speech. So, under the statute you can be convicted and thrown in jail for merely engaging in speech that is provided to or done in coordination with a terrorist organization. It’s a very, very sweeping statute.

Werman: So legally what are the implications for free speech in this country if translating documents can be interpreted as support for terrorism?

Cole: Well, it’s very concerning. I mean there are many news organizations that have for example, put up links to some of Osama Bin Laden’s statements. Are they providing material support to al-Qaeda by doing so? We in this country have seen the dangers of government prosecuting people for speech. The history of the First Amendment is sort of built on a series of cases in which the government prosecuted people for advocating crime, but in fact what they did was criminalize descent. Prosecuted people who spoke out against WWI for example, prosecuted people in the McCarthy era for advocating communist ideas, and ultimately the Supreme Court recognized the danger of this sort of criminalization of descent by saying you’ve gotta prove when you’re prosecuting someone for their speech that their speech was intended and likely to produce eminent lawless action — very, very tough standard to meet. But the reason that that standard is tough is because of the danger of criminalizing descent. And in this case by using the material support statute the government avoided that test altogether. There’s no showing that any of his internet activity was intended or likely to produce any eminent action or ever lead to any illegal action whatsoever.

Werman: The jury in the case deliberated pretty quickly and came back with the verdict of guilty. What does the speed of the verdict indicate to you, if anything?

Cole: Well, I mean again, this is the danger. When you criminalize speech, that permits the government to put on all kinds of evidence about people’s political views and inclinations. And if those inclinations are ones that we the majority don’t like, there’s a real risk that juries will convict them not for engaging in or actually furthering any kind of violence, but for engaging in speech that we find profoundly troubling. And that’s what the First Amendment is designed to protect, but in this case doesn’t see to have done that work.

Werman: So, David Cole, how significant is this as a legal precedent?

Cole: As you may know, the Supreme Court took up a case involving the material support statute just a year and a half ago. In fact, I argued on behalf of a human rights group in the case. And the Supreme Court said there’s no First Amendment problem with prosecuting people for engaging in speech with or on behalf of a group that’s been labeled terrorists, even if that speech advocates nothing but peace and human rights. So…

Werman: What was their justification?

Cole: Their justification was that anything you say on behalf of a group might sort of burnish its legitimacy and it can then use that legitimacy to go out and raise other support. Then it could use that support to engage in criminal activity. I mean it’s a very attenuated chain of causation, not the kind of causation that the Supreme Court at least in the past has said is required when you make speech a crime. So we’ve now come to the point where we’re making pure speech a crime regardless of its actual connection to any concrete criminal conduct, and that’s a very, very dangerous place to be.

Werman: Law professor David Cole at Georgetown University, thank you very much.

Cole: Thanks for having me.

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Tarek Mehanna (Family Photo)

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The vote could oust the Socialist Party from power, and usher in a new conservative government in Madrid.

But the biggest change may be the end of separatist Basque terrorism in Spain.

Last week, the Basque terrorist group ETA announced the end of its decades-long campaign of violence.

A combination of police work and international cooperation has helped bring ETA to its knees. Now, Spanish politicians of all stripes are seeking credit for the group’s apparent demise.

In today’s world of terrorism, ETA barely appears on the radar. But the Basque radicals have killed 829 people in a half-century of fighting. Al-Qaeda has killed more in a single day.

But Cristina Manzano, editor of the Spanish-language version of Foreign Policy Magazine, said Americans shouldn’t dismiss the damage ETA wreaked on Spanish society.

“If you haven’t lived with this thing around. I mean, hearing bombs. With the threat of going in the street and seeing people surrounded by cops because they were threatened and so on, I think it’s difficult to understand,” Manzano said. “Myself, I was at home one day and there was a bomb two blocks away.“

ETA has been killing since the 1960’s, despite various governments’ attempts to crush the group. But in recent years ETA has weakened. The movement’s goal of Basque succession has never been shared by a majority of Basques. And many who did support them have grown tired of the violence.

At the same time, Manzano said, international cooperation against terrorism has increased. For decades ETA killed in Spain, but hid in France. The French considered them separatists, not terrorists. But after years of negotiations, France changed its mind. The French began cracking down, sharing intelligence, making arrests.

“The minute the French authorities started to chase them, they had to start hiding,” she said. “They were also under the surveillance of French authorities. And that was very, very important.”

Manzano said the fact that France finally saw ETA in a global context reflects a larger shift in how the world deals with terrorism.

Over the last three years, hundreds of ETA activists have been jailed, including several of its top leaders. Leading that fight was Spanish interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba. Today, Rubalcaba is the socialist party candidate for Prime Minister. Elections are next month. Rubalcaba has not lost his chance to use ETA’s statement to boost his own credentials.

“If my work has in any way contributed to ETA’s end, and it certainly has,” he said, “then I can say that my entire political career has been a success.”

Not to be outdone, Rubalcaba’s rival, the conservative Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy, is trying to take credit too.

“This is good news,” he said, “that we have succeeded in getting ETA to renounce its policies of death, fear, violence and exclusion.”

In fact, since Spain became a democracy in the late 1970s, both major political parties have failed to stop ETA. Which is partly why victims of ETA violence are marching this coming Saturday. ETA has broken promises of peace before. Those hurt by the terrorist group say politicians of all stripes have used them to get elected.

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Marco Werman: The US and Iran held rare direct talks this week over the alleged Iranian terror plot. That’s according to a US State Department spokeswoman today. She was responding to a statement by an Iranian diplomat who denied such talks had taken place. The back and forth says a lot about the lack of trust, let alone communication between American and Iranian officials. Iran has strongly denied US allegations this week. To recap those accusations, the Obama administration says it foiled an Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington. The plot unveiled on Tuesday involved an Iranian American used car salesman named Manssor Arbabsiar, who apparently thought he was hiring a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the killing. Stephen Walt is a professor of international affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, he says the White House should offer up more evidence of the alleged plot.

Stephen Walt: I think in light of previous administrations’ deceit, say about the run up to the Iraq war, I think there’s a somewhat higher evidentiary standard now, and people are not going to simply accept a sort of trust us, we’ve got the information approach to this; they’re gonna want to see the actual evidence they have.

Werman: Do you think the White House is withholding key evidence and why would they do that?

Walt: Well, there’s no question they’re withholding key evidence. They’re making declarations of that various allegations and they filed a criminal complaint, but they have yet to lay out the transcripts of the phone calls that allegedly took place between Manssor Arbabsiar and representatives of the Kutz Force in Iran. And until we see those kinds of really hard evidence suggesting this was indeed a plot directed from Tehran, people again will retain lots of doubts.

Werman: This is a politically sensitive moment for the White House with a reelection coming up next year for Obama. Why would they go off half-cocked?

Walt: Well, again, administrations have gone off half-cocked before and you know, you think of the case of the so-called Miami Seven, a group that were allegedly plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and it turned out that the whole idea for the plot was actually invented by the FBI double agent who ultimately exposed them. So we do have something of a track record in this and other criminal investigations of various forms of entrapment, and something like that may have gone on here. Ababsiar had various ideas of his own, got in touch with Mexican drug cartel for whatever set of reasons and gradually gets maneuvered into some kind of plot with Iran.

Werman: Right, Ababsiar doesn’t appear to be the sort of person who would undertake this kind of alleged mission, but we also know there’s been political infighting in Iran. I mean isn’t it conceivable that a rogue could’ve popped up and started this whole thing rolling?

Walt: That’s certainly conceivable and of course, there’s a different interpretation one would place upon that. That’s not good news if rogue elements in Iran are doing things like this, but that’s rather different than suggesting that the supreme leadership of Iran decided to stage a terrorist attack on American soil with all of the risks that that would entail. Again, it just reminds us that we don’t know very much about what was actually happening here and that level of uncertainty will remain until the Obama administration actually reveals the information it claims it has.

Werman: The White House reportedly spoke with Tehran yesterday. Do you have any inside scoop on what was discussed?

Walt: I’m sure the tone was quite firm and quite confrontational. Remember, this is all part of a larger pattern here. In the New York Times today there was a story about how the Kutz Force, the same organization in Iran, is backing Iraqis who are attacking US soldiers in Iraq. There have been other accusations about Iranian involvement in some plots elsewhere in recent months. So one argument here is that this is really part of a larger American diplomatic effort to put Iran on the hot seat yet again, get more international support for increased sanctions, and you could even argue for Obama to look at the strong and tough going into the 2012 election. I’m not saying that this is a complete Wag the Dog situation, but it may have encouraged the administration to jump with a less than fully cooked case.

Werman: Where do you think then this leaves the administration as far as convincing not just the US public, but the world about their case? Will they go to the Security Council with this?

Walt: I’m not sure. I think they have to be very careful because you know, we’ve gone to the Security Council once before, Colin Powell’s famous briefing on Iraqi WMD that turned out to be mostly fairy tales. I think in the last two days you’ve seen a quite interesting split in international opinion. Countries like Great Britain and Saudi Arabia have been backing the administration saying they’re convinced by this. The Saudis in particular have been quite hawkish. Other countries being much more skeptical and press opinion in a variety of place sin Europe and elsewhere you know, referring to the plot in quotation marks, suggesting that they are not yet convinced that there’s really something here.

Werman: Stephen Walt of Harvard Kennedy School of Government, thanks so much.

Walt: Nice talking with you.

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The two accused were named as Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old naturalized US citizen with dual Iranian and US passports, and Gholam Shakuri, based in Iran and said to be a member of Iran’s Quds Force, a unit of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Host Marco Werman speaks with Vali Nasr, professor of international politics at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, about the Iran’s Quds Force.

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Marco Werman: I am Marco Werman. This is The World. U.S. and Saudi officials are talking about holding Iran accountable and Iranian officials are accusing Washington of warmongering. And that’s just the start of the fallout from yesterday’s US announcement of an alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador in Washington. American diplomats are now pressing US allies to further isolate Tehran, perhaps through a new round of sanctions. US officials say the foiled plot was the work of one specific part of the Iranian government, the Quds Force. Today White House spokesman Jay Carney said it was clear that senior members of the Force were involved. Vali Nasr is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Professor Nasr, what is the Quds Force?

Vali Nasr: It is an elite branch of Iran’s revolutionary guards that was a product of the Iran-Iraq war and also Iran’s involvement in Lebanon. It is given the task of managing Iran’s various military assets and proxies and Iran’s strategic interests across the Middle East in every area now in which Iran is militarily involved.

Werman: So, do the current accusations against the Quds Force seem plausible to you?

Nasr: Well, there is a connection alleged to the Quds Force, but that has to be vetted and to see how serious that connection was. The plot to kill the Ambassador is not typical of Quds Force’s operations. The Quds Force usually operates within the Middle East. It manages proxies like Shia militias in Iraq or Hezbollah in Lebanon. It carries acts of terror within that context, using car bombs, assassinations and the like. But it usually has not operated outside of the Middle East and it has not engaged in these kinds of high visibility targeted assassinations, particularly, in the West. So if this proves to be true, it is a new chapter for the Quds Force.

Werman: I am wondering how you think the dynamic of the Arab Spring might be affecting any of this. Do you think it has influenced some of the feistier elements in Iran, in the Quds Force?

Nasr: Yes, definitely. The Arab Spring is a challenge to the Quds Force. First of all, because in a country like Bahrain, more than likely the radical Shia elements will be tied to the Quds Force and will look to the Quds Force for support, training and arms. But most important is what is happening in Syria, because Syria is pivotal to Iran’s relations with Hezbollah in Lebanon which is the Quds Force’s largest client and most important proxy in the region. So, the instability in Syria is clearly creating certain challenges for Quds Force and already there are reports that Quds Force has been used in suppression of the demonstrators in Syria.

Werman: So, if the accusations are true and the plot represents a new chapter in al-Quds operations, what does that mean for the future of US-Iranian relations?

Nasr: Well, US-Iranian relations entered the new phase when the Attorney General announced the complaint, because Iran went from being a nuclear issue for the United States to being a war on terror issue. And therefore, the previous system of sanctions and punishments that the United States had devised to change Iran’s behavior on the nuclear issue have now to be amended with a new set of measures to contain this aggressive side of Iranian behavior.

Werman: Vali Nasr, what most puzzles you about this story?

Nasr: Well, first of all, the amateurism of the story. You know, Quds Force is an elite and very competent force in what it does. It has many operatives in Latin America, in Venezuela, in Argentina. For it to go to an amateur secondhand car salesman to carry out this attack is a bit baffling. Secondly, it is still very difficult to see what Iran thought it would gain by bringing the United States into the middle of its rivalry with Saudi Arabia. Iran has targeted Saudi leaders in the past, has targeted Saudi Arabia with terrorism, but the rivalry between the two had remained contained within the Middle East. With this act, if proven true, Iran is deliberately bringing its international nemesis into its major regional conflict.

Werman: You seem to see this as an especially sensitive moment for US-Iranian relations, Vali Nasr. What advice would you have for the White House as they move forward?

Nasr: Well, we have to approach this cautiously. There is no doubt that if these charges are proven true the United States and also Saudi Arabia would have to react to it. But this act has been so brazen as to make the potential for a direct and unintended conflict far more likely. But the key issue for the United States also is that in order, particularly, to convince the region of the degree to which Iran has endangered the region and is escalating tensions, to present as much of the information regarding this case as possible, to be as transparent as possible and to make a very strong case for the complaint that it has put forward. It would be perhaps the most important and effective step the United States can take at this stage in order to control the way in which this story is going to be played out in the region.

Werman: Vali Nasr at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy thanks very much for your time.

Nasr: Thank you.

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Marco Werman: PJ Crowley is a former Assistant Secretary of State of Public Affairs. PJ, we just heard Vali Nasr tell us just how high the stakes are, this incredible announcement yesterday from Washington. Tell us what is the thinking behind the White House right now making this announcement in the highly charged rhetoric that it did.

PJ Crowley: I think the central question for the United States is does this change our fundamental understanding of what is happening inside of Iran. Clearly this is serious breech of international protocol, you know, the protection of diplomats is a responsibility for every country everywhere in the world. So does this change an understanding of what is happening inside Iran? Clearly we understand Iran is a well-deserved state sponsor of terrorists and they’ve done this before both in this region and around the world. We do see what’s happening in the Arab Spring and the stakes are rising in that respect. But key elements in terms of determining whether this changes our understanding of what’s happening in Iran is really getting to that key element of was this just a rogue operation or does this represent a decision made at the highest levels of the Iranian government, which means in many respects you know, the gloves are coming off and it has grave implications for the United States and our allies in this region.

Werman: Well, you mentioned the Arab Spring which is you know, kind of a good general frame for why now, but you know, other questions around timing…for example, the release of the American hikers in Iran, does that have any to do with why we’re hearing about this now do you think?

Crowley: Well, I mean law enforcement decides at what point you know, there’s utility always in monitoring and ongoing operation and understanding the links of someone in the United States and who’s orchestrating you know, the support or approval back in Iran. So the longer you can keep this operation alive you learn something about what’s happening within the Kutz Force or within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, or hopefully you know, you find the smoking gun that links it to somebody at the highest levels of the Iranian government. You know, it doesn’t surprise me that clearing the decks with respect to the hikers or other things might have affected the timing of when the United States announces this, but I clearly think that when you work back over how this plot unfolded over several months, the origins of this plot has to be seen within the context of what’s happening in the Arab Spring and the increasing rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran for ascendancy in the Middle East.

Werman: I’m curious to know behind the scenes of the State Department, when something like this happens it’s just so puzzling, what is the dynamic?

Crowley: Well, this is where you have kind of the constraint over the lack of diplomatic relations and really a fundamental lack of understanding between the United States and Iran. You know, even a North Korea where you do have the ability to have conversations and you have various tracks, you’ve got a relationship with China, so China can help you understand what actually is a country like North Korea thinking about. But we’re very constrained on being able either directly or indirectly through a surrogate the kind of meaningful conversation to be able to find out what the story is behind the story. So we’ll be looking to other countries in the region, a Qatar, an Oman, Switzerland carries our diplomatic water in Tehran to try and figure out what is the story behind the story. But it’s gonna take some time and this will be a mystery for quite a while as we kind of unearth you know, again, the central question here is if there was a sanction within the Iranian government was it in the Kutz Force? Was it higher in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard? Or did it go to the highest echelons of the Iranian political system? Depending on where that leads that tells you well this was just a one off or something much more dramatic.

Werman: PJ Crowley, a former spokesperson for the State Department. Thank you so much.

Crowley: A pleasure, Marco.

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Clinton said Washington was preparing new penalties against Iran, which is already subject to a variety of international sanctions.

Two Iranians were charged over the plot which US officials said implicated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani said the claims were a “childish game”.

Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Sattar Saeed of the BBC’s Persian Service about reaction inside Iran.

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Marco Werman: As we mentioned earlier, Iran’s government is strongly rejecting US accusations. For more reactions from Iran we turn to Sattar Saeed. He’s with the BBC Persian Service interactive program, Your Turn, and he’s been monitoring how Iranians are responding online.

Sattar Saeed: In social media like Facebook and Twitter there’s a doubtful environment against the charge. They are not necessarily backing Iranian regime on this matter. They think it sounds a bit dodgy and at the same time, I think 30-40% of the other comments that we see on Facebook and Twitter say this is Iranian regime and he can do such a thing. Here, some comments we received on Facebook page: Sayeed from Iran says we can’t trust America’s words, it might be a lie. [Arabic name] from Afghanistan, a [inaudible 0:47] says an alibi to bomb Iran again. [Arabic name] from Tehran says even the stupidest government would not do such a thing that America claims Iran has done. But there are some other comments like Ahmad’s from Islam saying Iran’s support of terrorism is not a new thing from assassinating the opposition from outside Iran to its role in explosions in Argentina and Lebanon and supporting the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Werman: Well, the Iranian government has said they had no part in the plot. They denied it. They said the accusations are fabricated. Doesn’t that kind of reaction stir up more feelings of distrust inside Iran toward the government?

Saeed: Yeah, interestingly, I want to think about something else. I saw a sentence which Iranian Facebookers are sharing today. It says do you think we do not have a Saudi ambassador over here in Iran? That means should Iran send someone to the US to kill a Saudi diplomat? If the Iranian regime wants to do it it can do it inside Iran.

Werman: Elaborate a bit more on that, on the relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia. How do Iranians feel about Saudis?

Saeed: If you talk about the recent you know, so-called Arab Spring in the region there are some competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia. They are trying to get the most of these revolutions. So, in this regard some people say that the relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia is not in a good situation at this moment and the United States wants to use this charge to worsen this situation.

Werman: I mean what are the two countries trying to get out of the Arab Spring because notably Iran and Saudi Arabia, neither of them have had an uprisings.

Saeed: [inaudible 2:32]. The interesting thing is that it’s definitely this allegation worsens the relationship between Iran and US more than anyone in Saudi Arabia. Now there is a huge task in US officials hands. They need to prove that Iran has been behind this plot. if they can prove then they can get the next step and then can convince their European allies to put necessary pressure on Iran. But if they cannot prove it and the doubt goes on then I think Iranian regime will be winner in this matter.

Werman: Sattar Saeed with the BBC Persian Service interactive program, Your Turn, thank you very much.

Saeed: You’re welcome, thank you.

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Two men originally from Iran – one a naturalized US citizen – have been charged with counts of conspiracy, Attorney General Eric Holder said.

The plot was “conceived” in Iran by the Quds force, part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, he added.

The state department has listed Iran as a “state sponsor” of terror since 1984.

Laura Rozen is Senior Foreign Policy reporter at Yahoo News.

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Marco Werman: I am Marco Werman. This is The World. The United States is accusing Iran of plotting to carry out a terrorist attack on US soil. Attorney General Eric Holder made the announcement this afternoon in Washington. Holder said 2 suspects linked to Iran have been detained. They were allegedly plotting to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in Washington. The plan supposedly also included bombing the Israeli and Saudi Arabian Embassies in Washington. Holder left no doubt as to whom US officials believe was behind the plot.

Eric Holder: As we have alleged in the complaints, say that this was directed and approved by elements of the Iranian government and specifically senior members of the Quds force which is a part of the Iranian-Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Irani military. High-up officials in those agencies, that which is the integral part of the Iranian government, were responsible for this plot.

Werman: Laura Rozen is Senior Foreign Policy reporter at Yahoo News. Laura, you have been following this story, more precisely, what does the indictment allege?

Laura Rozen: It’s quite stunning. It said there is an Iranian-American man named Arbabsiar who approached someone who turned out to be a confidential drug enforcement agent in May, in Texas. He was trying to recruit, essentially, a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States and also carry out a possible bombing of the Embassy and a restaurant that the Ambassador is thought to frequent in the city.

Werman: Very complex plot indeed. What is the evidence that supports the indictment?

Rozen: Well, the most stunning part is actually when they arrest… The man went several times to Mexico to meet with the confidential informant who he thought was going to be the hit-man. He transferred money to him – $100,000 as a down payment on what would be a $1.5 million hit. On his third trip to Mexico to pay this person, he was turned back by the Mexicans, arrested in New York and he apparently told FBI agents that his plan was hatched by the Iranian Quds force associates in Iran. They were the ones who arranged the payments. He made calls to his Iranian contacts that the FBI tracked where they said that the plot should continue. So, in early October after he was arrested, before Iranians were aware that he was in custody, the United States are saying they have evidence that Iranian officials and Quds force members were backing this plot.

Werman: How has the Iranian government responded to this?

Rozen: They have denied it. I haven’t seen much of their reaction except to see their denial. This all comes in the context, as you know, of growing sectarian strains. In the Middle East we are seeing violence between Christians and Muslims. In Egypt you have seen a lot of Saudi versus Iran competition throughout the Arab Spring in places like Syria and Bahrain. And also deep Saudi anxiety, some of it revealed in US cables leaked by Wikileaks; Saudi anxiety about the Iranian nuclear program and growing regional power.

Werman: Laura, if true, what would be the Iranian interest in supporting a plot against Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States? We don’t have a lot of time left.

Rozen: I don’t know why the Iranian government would want to be connected with such a provocative terrorist plot. I guess there are allegations that they are backing proxy groups in countries throughout the Middle East to antagonize the others such as in Lebanon.

Werman: Laura Rozen, Senior Foreign Policy reporter at Yahoo News.

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Many of the victims were students who had gathered near a government building to register for scholarships to study in Turkey.

The al-Qaeda affiliated group al-Shabab claimed responsibility.

It is always difficult to imagine what could motivate an individual, whether in Somalia or Afghanistan or anywhere to carry out such a horrific attack.

Author Ken Ballen has tried to grapple with the logic.

He interviewed more than a hundred extremists for his new book “Terrorists in Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals.”

Among those he profiles is a star-crossed couple.

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The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman, this is The World. The bomb that exploded today on a busy street in Mogadishu was huge even by Somali standards. It was hidden in a truck containing piles of scrap metal. The blast killed at least 70 people and left scores injured. Afterward, shocked emergency workers combed the smoldering scene to help the wounded. Many of the victims were students. They’d gathered near a government building to register for scholarships to study in Turkey. The al-Qaeda affiliated Islamist group, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility. Al-Shabab has long been at war with Somalia’s struggling transitional government. But on a personal level, it’s always difficult to imagine what could motivate an individual whether in Somalia or Afghanistan or anywhere to carry out such a horrific attack. Author Ken Ballen has tried to grapple with the logic. He interviewed nearly 100 extremists for his new book, Terrorists In Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals. Among those he profiles in a star-crossed couple.

Ken Ballen: In Saudi Arabia one young man fell in love with a young woman. They were like a Jihadi Romeo and Juliet if you will, and he wasn’t allowed to marry his sweetheart because he didn’t have the $30,000 dowry. So he went to Iraq to fight in noble Jihad because if he died he could go to heaven and in heaven he could marry his sweetheart.

Werman: I mean sexual oppression among young people like the young man in the first chapter and the Romeo and Juliet couple, it’s one of the themes that runs through these profiles. What role does it play in these people becoming Jihadists?

Ballen: I think it plays a large role. There was another fellow in Pakistan who when he was 11 years old, he came from a very wealthy family. His father was a colonel who guards that country’s nuclear weapons, so he came from a very wealthy family, very privileged. He was raped in school at 11 years old. Several years later he too fell in love with a young woman and he was beaten because of the love He turned to God for solace. You see this pattern over and over and over again. One fellow, Ahmad, blew him self up in Iraq and when he met an American army nurse it was the first time he had ever met a woman outside his own family, and he was transformed by that experience.

Werman: I mean Ahmad is an interesting case. You found him, if you read between the lines, rather endearing.

Ballen: I did. He went to fight in Iraq. As I said, he blew himself up in an attack, but in many ways he was duped. And when he met the Americans and saw what the Americans were like he said to me, al-Qaeda tried to use me as a piece of rotten meat. The Americans treated me with dignity and respect. He’s a very pro-American person right now and you can feel that when you talk to him from his hear. He’s still a strong Muslim, he’s still very much believes in the faith, but he also saw a totally different world when he was exposed to Americans who treated him kindly at Abu Ghraib of all places, which has a very different reputation.

Werman: I was going to say, it’s fascinating. I mean here you actually in a way, you followed those infamous photos taken by US GIs in Abu Grhaib, and Ahmad sees those and that’s what prompts him to become a suicide bomber.

Ballen: There was a whole array of religious and psychological factors. He had a difficult relationship with his father. He joined a gang. He felt tremendous guilt over the gang. And seeing those photos of the prisoners being abused was the prompt that lead him to feel that Jihad could be the answer in going off to Iraq to fight.

Werman: Remind us what happens to Ahmad, because you said he was duped. Just how badly was he duped?

Ballen: He was duped fairly…I mean he knew he was fighting, he knew he wanted to kill Americans because he felt that that was God’s calling, but he didn’t know he was going into a suicide attack. And some people say to me, well, how come he didn’t know that? Well, I interviewed scores and scores of Jihadi and I found this pattern of al-Qaeda duping a lot of young men who didn’t want to die, they wanted to fight, but they didn’t want to die. And if you recall, even bin Laden himself on that famous December 2001 tape where he’s talking about the 9/11 attacks, laughs at how he duped some of the hijackers who didn’t know they were gonna die.

Werman: Tell us the story of Ahmad. I mean essentially he was getting very anxious to do something, to fight Jihad and what his bosses then set him up for?

Ballen: He tells a very interesting story about arriving in Iraq with 45 other Jihadis from all over the Muslim world. And they arrived there and the leader of al-Qaeda tells them all of you young men are on a noble mission, you will die for God, this is the highest calling there is, who wants to volunteer to join the suicide attack right now so they can meet their maker in heaven? And nobody volunteered.

Werman: Right, because they didn’t know that was what it was about. They ust went to fight.

Ballen: They went to fight. Now, if they died they’d have the notion of going to heaven, which was a powerful incentive, but that didn’t mean they wanted to kill themselves. As Ahmad said to me, didn’t mean I wanted to kill myself right away, I mean I kind of want to fight and do some good on earth before I get to heaven.

Werman: So he’s outside Baghdad. His bosses say we’re gonna get in this fuel truck and drive into town. Tell us what happens then.

Ballen: He’s in the fuel truck and it’s the first time in months that he’s been in Iraq that he’s actually having a normal conversation with two of the Jihadis. They’re joking around in the way that young men between the ages of 18 and 24 like to joke…about bodily functions and all of that. And for the first time he’s in Iraq he actually feels happy. He feels like he’s with other people, he feels like he’s doing some good. And then they’re driving along in Baghdad. He doesn’t even know how to drive the tanker truck. And about 1,000 feet before a concrete barrier the other two Iraqi Jihadi jump out of the truck. This is a big tractor trailer truck filled with liquid propane, and within a matter of seconds it blew up.

Werman: Right, you’re an American Mr. Ballen and acting kind of as a psychoanalyst for these people. How do you know they’re not just telling you what they think you want to hear or what might gain them favor?

Ballen: Well, one fellow, Malik, who’s a Taliban fighter, he was holding my hand as a sign of friendship. And he said to me and he began to tear because he began to incite a saying of the prophet Muhammad, and he said, the day of judgement will not come until the Muslims kill every single Jew; if the Jew is hiding behind a stone, the stone will cry out ‘oh, Muslim, kill the Jew.’ This was while he was holding my hand knowing I was a Jew. So, I don’t think they were telling me everything I wanted to hear.

Werman: So you think the fact as well that you’re Jewish affected your interaction with these people?

Ballen: Deeply, there was another instance where I was with Shahid who was once part of a cell. He didn’t participate in it, he got out of it, but his colleagues were involved in the bombing of the Marriott hotel. And I told him a dream that I had, which he interpreted as some kind of a religious vision. And he was so moved by that, that a Jew, that an American, that a so-called infidel could actually have this kind of religious vision that it overcame him. So I never hid it from people that I talked to. I brought it out because it was a way to provoke their inner thoughts and their feelings.

Werman: So let me ask you, Mr. Ballen, how should this unique understanding of who these people are now change how the US approaches a policy from militant Islam.

Ballen: I think of the story of Kamal. His father, one of the highest religious officials in Saudi Arabia, perhaps even in the Muslim world, his world view is that every Christian, every infidel, every Jew is headed for hell. That’s not Kamal’s world view. His world view is that there’s a place in heaven for everyone. So, within the faith there is movement and I think the United States must give respect to that, must engage in dialogue, and must understand that this is something that has to come from Muslims themselves, these changed attitudes, not from the United States trying to impose its will or its vision on other people.

Werman: Author Ken Ballen spent five years interviewing more than 100 extremists throughout the Muslim world. His new book is called Terrorists in Love. Ken Ballen, thank you so much.

Ballen: Thank you, it’s been a pleasure to be on.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Peter Bergen interviews Ken Ballen about “Terrorists In Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals”

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The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: It’s almost 10 years since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.  There are countless stories of that day and of the days that followed.  Thousands of lives were lost.  Thousands more were transformed. Here’s one story from a man who used to wait tables at the World Trade Center in New York in a restaurant at the top of tower one, the north tower.

Fekkak Mamdouh: My name is Fekkak Mamdouh and I’m an immigrant, come from Morocco.  And I find a job working at Winds on the World, two floors, 106 and 107 of tower one of the World Trade Center.  It was a good gig you know, people are like, we were family, we were really family.

Werman: Mamdouh was a shop steward for the restaurant union at Windows on the World.  He knew everyone who worked there, often their families too.  On the night of Sept. 10th, Mamdouh and his coworkers worked the dinner shift.

Mamdouh: We come, we serve, people come in from all over…joking, forget the name of one of the waiters that was joking the whole night, an Argentine waiter.  And on Sept. 11th I was sleeping when my sister called me from Italy and she said where are you?  And I said I’m sleeping.  And she said there was a plane that just hit the building.  And I said what?  I wake up and turned the TV [on] and I saw the building where I used to work, it’s in flames.  And I know that if it’s not in the floor that I was working, it’s just below it a little bit, because we are 106, 107.  And I was waiting for our people to go to the roof.  So a helicopter could come and pick them up because that’s what we’ve been told.  Even they told my wife, watch what’s going to happen…people are gonna go on top and a helicopter is gonna come and is gonna try to save some of them. No helicopters come, nobody come to their safety.  So, while I’m waiting for these helicopters to come to pick up my brothers and sisters, that they are stuck there, I saw another plane come in and hit in the second building.  I thought this is not an accident.  This is an act of whatever.  And I was like wow. And being a Muslim I was like I hope it’s not the Muslims.  I hope they’re not gonna put this on us and they’re not gonna blame us.  And I don’t even think about one of us would do any harm to this country because we are American.  I don’t see myself like I’m another alien from another place.  You know, we have kids, we have families and we’re like everybody else you know, we just come to this country late. The next day my job was like, I was outside looking for my brothers and sisters.  The union give me this tag where it said “search team.”  People who punch in and punch out, we don’t have no machines; we don’t know who made it that morning.  We don’t know if somebody called sick, we don’t know. So I went to hospitals.  I went all the way to New Jersey, all the hospitals here and across the river there to New Jersey to just look to see if one of us made it, or one of us in the hospital.  So it took us 3-4 days going all over looking.  We couldn’t find nobody.

Werman: Eventually, after about a week, Mamdouh and his colleagues realized that they’d lost 73 people.  After those long days of searching the demands of everyday life slowly returned; things like grocery shopping.

Mamdouh: I went to this big chain, it’s supermarkets, me and my wife.  And we were shopping, and while we were shopping we were passing by the fish place and we liked to get some fish.  So my wife stand there and the guy did not even pay attention to her.  She called him again and he did not pay attention.  And I told him yo, she’s talking to you.  Then he told me why, because you don’t know what you did?  I said what we did?  He told me well, the World Trade Center.  Then as soon as I heard that it all come up to me and I start screaming at his face.  I told him you just an idiot!  It was so emotional because you know, I lost a good job.  I lost a lot of good, good friends, and I’m blamed over it.

Werman: But Fekkak Mamdouh didn’t have time to stay angry.  350 of his colleagues from Windows on the World were now out of work and in many cases struggling to stay afloat.  He joined up with a partner and set about assisting them.

Mamdouh: So I was like I’m gonna go and find some money, and we’re gonna find some jobs and we’re gonna help those people.

Werman: The result was an advocacy group called the Restaurant Opportunity Center.  In the decade since Sept. 11th it’s expanded its operations to cities across the United States.  But Fekkak Mamdouh’s friends from that morning shift in New York are never far from his mind.  In fact, he says they’re his inspiration.

Mamdouh: It’s tough, it’s really hard, but we know that this is what the 73 people that were lost at Windows on the World would want us to do.  We’re gonna keep doing it.  They are helping us from there.  They are smiling.  They are happy and we’re gonna keep doing it to the last of our lives.

Werman: By the way, the Restaurant Opportunity Center runs its own co-op restaurant in New York called Colors.  A second restaurant is scheduled to open in Detroit Sept. 12th.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

While most New Yorkers were understandably anxious in the days after the terrorist attacks, only a minority went on to develop debilitating psychological problems like post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Even among people who were in the towers and who were trying to escape or got injured, the risk of PTSD was still in the minority,” says Galea.

He says it was an “aha” moment for him.

“Human beings are incredibly adaptive and incredibly resilient,” he says. “Even in the face of a dramatic trauma, with horrendous circumstances, most people are still pulling through fine.”

By “pulling through fine,” Galea does not mean that people were not upset. Rather, they were able to function normally even if they had periods of great sadness.

Galea wanted to know: was this resilience unique to New Yorkers, or was it a more general human trait?

So he approached a colleague who had studied the psychological impacts of a devastating flood in Mexico. Torrential rains in 1999 killed more than 400 people and displaced over 200,000.

“Even in the flood sample, where the vast majority of participants are people who had lost homes or lost loved ones, it was still nearly half who qualified as being resilient,” says Galea.

Psychologists are just beginning to understand what makes some people resilient and others vulnerable.

Columbia University psychologist George Bonanno has spent years studying the factors that influence human resilience.

“There are some factors that are inherent in people – their personality and the way they cope – that does tend to make some people more resilient than others,” he says.

Genetics may influence resilience. Also, men tend to be more psychologically resilient than women, although it is not clear why.

Bonanno says external factors also play a role.

“If a person has economic difficulties, or doesn’t have much of a social support network or a network of friends and people to rely on, that person is going to be less likely to be resilient,” he says.

Bonanno hopes that this research will lead to helpful tools for encouraging resilience.

One factor that plays a key role in determining resilience is the presence or absence of chronic stress. In a recent study, Bonanno and his colleagues looked at the mental health of Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank.

To Bonanno’s surprise, he found almost no resilient individuals in that population. He says that’s because people there were living under chronically stressful conditions, including “lots of loss, lots of injury and exposure to violence on a regular basis, combined with poverty and all kind of other factors.”

“You combine all these factors together,” he says, “and you get a very, very caustic and chronic situation.”

Bonanno says chronic stress wears us out and prevents us from recovering from trauma.

Fortunately for New Yorkers, the terror of 9/11 has not been repeated in the past decade. That in no way reduces the horror of what they experienced, but it gave most New Yorkers the chance to recover and resume their daily lives.

Comments emailed to the BBC in English:

“I was south of San Francisco on September 11 and had an involuntary extended business trip as a result. I think that I saw the best and the bad of Americans in the 10 days that followed the attacks. The very best was the fall back on the US National Anthem line “the flag was still there” with US flags and red white and blue bunting appearing on public buildings, private houses, cars, roadsides and bridges; indeed, almost everywhere there was a space. The bad was the gung-ho, we must find someone to blame and retaliate to vent our anger, never pausing to ponder on the driving force behind the attacks and the role that Uncle Sam had played in the run-up to the attacks.”
Robert Wilson Thomas, Ireland

“At the time of the attack I was a resident of Hell’s Kitchen (on the westside of Manhattan in the West 50′s) but had spent the summer in Massachusetts on Cape Cod. When I returned to Manhattan in late October, the small picture window that had offered a perfect view of the Twin Towers instead showed a plume of smoke that continued to rise from the rubble more than a month after the planes had hit the towers.”
Alan Klein, New York

“I was nine-years-old. My father said this is a deliberate terrorist attack. As we went outside i remember what looked like F-15 fighter jets flying above us. I was lucky to be home, not in school. 22 people were killed from my town just 22 miles from downtown Manhattan. My cousin was in the building across the street from the WTC, where he helped evacuate his building. It was a very worrisome day. My brother is now in Afghanistan and that day still affects me.”
Robert Le Sueur, NY.

“It was a very crisp bright morning, the first i knew was a dull humming sound, as i looked up it was hard to register what i was seeing, like being in the cinema watching a disaster movie. As the planes hit the most impactful feeling was the wind it generated through the avenues, it felt like a hurricane the souls of the dead whirling through the city. At night the sky was a crimson red, a hue i had not seen before, the streets were ghostly and fighter jets flew past my 25th floor apartment. I caught a glimpse of yesterdays news, an article about Paris Hilton, I wondered if the news would ever be that frivolous again.”
Poran Malani, Bangalore.

Comments Sent To BBC Arabic (Translated)

“These attacks changed the way the world looks at extremism. This western world was prompted to pay attention to all extremist religious currents in all the world, even ones in the remote areas, a turn-around from the days extremism was a local problem in repressive undemocratic regimes.”
Issam, Baghdad

“The consequences were catastrophic on Afghanistan, Iraq and the Arab region. The attacks affected the world view of Muslims and Arabs in a negative way, despite what some may consider are genuine attempts by the West to learn more of the essence of Islam. On a personal level, the attacks meant getting a visa to western countries and America in particular is much harder.”
Sayf al-Din, Egypt

“I agree with those who say that the Arab Spring was to an extent a consequence of the Sept. 11 attacks. But people are still between denying and believing the official version of the attacks. Ironically, those who carried out the attacks are a result of the Afghan war against the Soviets in which the Americans sided with the Afghan militants and now it is as if the magic has turned on the magician. On a personal level I weep whenever I see the burning towers and pictures of workers falling to their deaths. I wish the date is marked globally as a day for world peace and brotherhood between all.”
Abdul Elah Al-Ayashi, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

“Up to this moment, it is not clear who was behind the assassination of President John Kennedy, was the killer acting alone or with others? And the question is still discussed after more than 40 years. On the same basis, we may not know the truth of 9/11 for another 40 years.”
Ayad Awad, USA

“In my opinion, America’s interference in the Arab and Muslim world, its alliance with Israel and its support of the Arab dictators was the real reason for these attacks. It is the foreign policy of US administrations that determine the fate of the relationship between America and the Arabs, and I think America has, in effect, declared another war on Islam and Muslims post-September 11th.”
Issam, Gaza

“Any horrible event like September 11th, whose dire consequences in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Syria are still continuing, is a painful incident for anyone with a conscience. But despite that, it served a divine purpose; who can deny that what’s happening now in our beloved East would have happened without September to 11th.”
Abu Mazen, West Bank

“The effects of September 11th on my country, Iraq, does not need explaining. It destroyed lives and souls. America saved us from the dictator that was Saddam, but what came after him made us long for the days of dictatorship.”
Zaid Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

“America is still continuing to repeat its mistakes. The world was better before 11 September! Most Arabs respect the Americans as a people and as individuals, but they hate the hostile policy of the US towards them! Bush claimed that he would dry the sources of terrorism but he reproduced thousands of Bin Ladens!!”
Musa, Amman, Jordan

Comments Sent To BBC Persian (Translated)

“It’s clearly obvious that the US was behind the 9/11 attacks and took political advantage from them. If US intelligence is so strong that shortly after the attack it learned that Muslims are responsible then why did they not know it before?”
Yousef, Shirazv, Southern Iran

“It was hard to believe. Only after watching the videos of the attacks several times did I believe it. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the poor people who were killed in those buildings. And even worse was to think about US’ reaction. I was worried about US’ hasty and illogical reaction against Muslims.”
Reza, Mashhad, Northwestern Iran

Comments Sent To BBC Vietnamese (Translated)

“At the anniversary, 9/11 the whole world pays tribute and send condolences to the United States but no one would do that to the wars with American ‘footprints’. In Buddhism we call it ’cause and effect’, so despite all the rhetoric, people were caught up in the 9/11 event because of all the wars America had been involved in.”
Danny Mai

“That cause and effect principle does not spare anyone. Japan has paid a price for the massacres they did during World War II (they got two American atomic bombs, tsunami and floods).”
Harry Nguyen

Comments Sent To BBC Brazil (Translated)

“The biggest terrorist strike in history wasn’t the fall, in New York, of the Twin Towers, 10 years ago. It was an act of the American government: the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. More than 242,000 civilians died.”
Ed Oliveira

“I believe that September 11th changed international relations forever. To me, one of the saddest consequences was Islamophobia, a clear distortion that Islam is to blame. Danger lies with radicalism, religious, political, cultural or ideological!”
Catarina Muniz

“The death of innocent people is tragic and sad in any event. However, I think the US is trying to turn September 11th in something more horrible than the Holocaust. The US is using September 11th as a way of justifying their responsibilities in so many deaths they have been causing around the world.”
Willams de Carvalho

“Afghan and Iraqi cemeteries are full. The life of a westerner is more valuable than the ones of thousands of murdered Arabs. This is the White House in all its white color.”
Elizabeth Mendonça

Comments Sent To BBC Russian (Translated)

“If I try to analyze the present situation in the world (especially Libya) I might predict two trends with all my regret – more terrorist attacks and more countries willing to get nuclear weapons.”
Alex Ivanchuk

“I was at work on that day. I got the news very quickly but was able to see pictures only in the evening. I remember what I thought – it was like watching a badly produced TV trick show. Something like Apocalypses… The first plane which crashed to the tower – I was sure it was some kind of a pilot mistake but when the second plane crashed I had no doubts any more – it’s serious.”
Pastor

“I remember how I read a so-so novel 20 years ago about some hero who was trapped by evil forces and had nothing left but to fly his jet into the headquarters of his enemies. 9/11 is real and much scarier.”
Demian Filimonov

Comments Sent To BBC Mundo (Translated)

“On 9/11 the economy of the world’s richest country collapsed.”
Francisco Mejia, Toronto, originally from El Salvador

“It was more an ideological disaster than economical, as the security and faith of the world’s strongest figure was destroyed. So I think the impact was social, cultural, emotional, etc … All my affection for all the generations of people that saw so many human beings dying in the safest place in the world, people whose only sin was to do their daily activities.”
Gustavo Alonso Reséndiz Suárez, Mexico

It’s a shame that the US has squandered so much money over the last 10 years only in wars and the worst is that it continues and will continue doing so, even going through this terrible economic crisis where the most unfortunate and affected are the citizens (mainly from middle class and below) It’s so sad.
Carla Revollo Pérez, Bolivia

And in many of those classrooms, the students are increasingly too young to have many actual memories of their own of that day’s events.

I visited two high school classes in the San Francisco Bay Area to see how teachers are approaching the topic, what the students know and don’t know, and how they feel about the events surrounding that day.

History teacher Kent Holubar at Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, Calif. (Photo: Jason Margolis)

Russia has long been battling an Islamist insurgency in the country’s Northern Caucasus region, which includes Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan. The Kremlin has fought two separatist wars in Chechnya. There are near-daily attacks on police and government officials there.

And not infrequently, the violence spills over into Russian cities.

“Our teachers tell us that we have to be careful, of course. And our teachers tell us that we have to see the face and try to be so careful,” said student Anastasia Zavyalova.

Zavyalova sits on a bench near a playground in central Moscow. Her pretty blue eyes become as huge as saucers when she describes the type of person she’s learned to steer clear of at all costs.

“Avoid the people of Caucasus. They have black dresses; we can notice it in their eyes. We were very afraid, these people were very bad; they wanted to kill Russian girls and Russian children,” said Zavyalova.

Many analysts and the government opposition blame the situation in the Caucasus – and the resulting violence in Russian cities – on the Kremlin’s oppressive approach to its former republics. The government maintains that a hard hand is needed to keep rebels and insurgents from their main goal of killing innocent people.

Back on the playground bench Zavyalova says she often asks her teachers why Russians should avoid people from the northern Caucasus. She says their response is very well, Soviet – in other words, no explanation is given.

“No history. Really no history. Because we have situation. This is our problem and our teachers say we have to avoid them. They are bad. Not why,” said Zavyalova.

“How we find truth?,” asked 17-year old Maxim Titov. “I read historical books sometimes or in Internet. I do my own opinions about this.”

Titov says you can’t really rely on Russian teachers to explain why these horrible acts of terrorism keep happening here in the former Soviet Union. There’s no historical context at all.

Titov might not be too far off. Many analysts say educators are still using the same teaching methods as during Soviet times when the Kremlin dictated how history was to be interpreted.

Fifteen-year-old John Rose, whose father is American, couldn’t agree more. He says when the country’s largest airport, Domodedova, located just outside of Moscow, was the target of a suicide bombing in January, he was told to suit up and get ready to fight.

“They took us to this subbasement at school. It was probably a bunker at some point. They had us assembling and disassembling Kalashnikov rifles. So apparently Russian junior high school students are the last line of defense against a terrorist threat,” said Rose.

That’s right, a “teachable moment” tossed aside and in its place students learned how to fight back.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has made it no secret that Russian education is the pits. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, teaching standards have fallen due to corruption, a lack of funding, outdated textbooks and an often-uneducated workforce.

Until changes are made, many of the country’s children are left to learn the way their Soviet-era parents did; just do what you’re told and don’t ask too many questions.

Student John Rose says at least he has a good sense of humor about it. When he told his mother about his shooting adventures, his mom said it could have been worse. She explained what she’d been taught as a young girl.

“In the event of an atomic explosion, the first thing you should do is hold rifle away from you so that it doesn’t melt on your government issued boots. If you’re not going to live, at least make sure your boots do,” said Rose.