Word: egyptian
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...loner tendencies were underlined in a caricature of his college class drawn by Iman Ismail, who depicted Atta standing next to a sign that included a warning posted on Egyptian military perimeter fences: "Coming Near or Taking Photos Prohibited." A speech bubble has Atta saying, "I don't hear, don't see, don't talk...
...dream girl was an angelic kind of character," says Ahmed Khalifa, the best friend with whom Atta shared confidences, worked night and day on engineering projects and relaxed over movies, outings and listening to romantic ballads belted out by Egyptian crooners. "He never ran after a girl and flirted. He would never point out the physical features of a girl. He would say this is a good girl, would make a good wife. He had some secret crushes in college, but was not in love...
...politics and religion, Atta's opinions had been mainstream Egyptian middle class - strongly critical of Israel, but also strongly critical of the Islamist extremism that had taken hold of sections of Egyptian society over the past two decades. "When students on campus would discuss the activities of the Islamic groups who were active on campus and in the student union," says Khalifa, "he would object to their activities from A-Z. He was against them and what they stood for. He was a person who always held a position in the center. He hated extremism. He knew...
...religious and political views were mainstream Egyptian middle class, so was his uphill struggle for a good education, a well-paying job and the means to marry and raise a family in one of the world's most overcrowded and impoverished cities. College friends still don't believe that Mohammed El Amir could have committed the atrocity of Sept. 11, but that if he had indeed become Mohammed Atta that would have required significant personality changes or brainwashing during his sojourn in Hamburg...
...alienation of a lonely Egyptian living in Germany isn't enough explanation for his subsequent actions. "I do not understand what could have happened to him," says Khalifa. "I feel sorry I lost him. I completely disbelieve this story about him. He never let himself reach a state that would make him desperate. I could never imagine him on a plane, threatening people, killing people. He would be scared to death. I cried...