The idea that terrorists can be well-educated isn’t a new one. I moved to London 3½ years ago, the day before a group of “home grown” British terrorists—at least one of whom attended university here—was arrested for a “liquid bomb plot” at Heathrow airport. Ten months later, a bunch of doctors tried to blow up Glasgow airport. Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl’s executioner—Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh—went to the London School of Economics. And it isn’t just the U.K. where some students turn to violence. Osama bin Laden also—and famously—has a university degree. In a recent article in Slate, Anne Applebaum describes the emergence of an international jihadist elite who are educated, eloquent, cosmopolitan and—crucially—often the children of ambitious, Westernized parents.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/19/smart-bombers-do-universities-breed-terrorists/