Yesterday, I asked one of my employees, a young Frenchman from Morrocan origin, what he thought about a TV report we saw regarding the upper middle class background of the 9/11 hijackers. He then told me that 2 years ago he was playing soccer and some Arabs from the U.K. invited the muslim members of the soccer team to a brunch at the local Mosque. These men spoke perfect arabic, french and english. After making the young men feel confortable, they offered to 4 of them who had a technical background, including my employee, to pay for their studies, to pay $2K monthly stipend, if they would spend 6 months in a school in Pakistan. My guy didn't want to go that far and they said that they also had schools in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The men said they would be back in 1 week to let them think it over but at 11:30 pm the same day they showed up at his home and asked him what he had decided. He turned it down but one of his friends went there. This is nothing new but I'm in shock because I've known this man for 2 years and it happened "close to home".
Laurent
