Why Didn't I See This Mentioned Anywhere?

You would think will all the discussion of the murderer at Northern Illinois University, this worrisome aspect would have deserved some attention, too. From the February 20, 2008 Chicago Sun-Times:

BY RASMIEYH ABDELNABI

I met Steve Kazmierczak in an introductory political science class in 2002 as a freshman in college. He was inquisitive, smart, respectful and nice.

But now I find myself wondering if I ever knew Steve, the man who shot and killed five people and then himself in a lecture hall at my alma mater, Northern Illinois University.
...
When I found out it was Steve, I forgot to breathe for a minute. I saw the name and kept saying over and over, “It isn’t him.” The man who declared himself a pacifist wouldn’t own a gun, much less kill several people in cold blood.

...
We would also see each other on campus during the semesters we didn’t have any classes together and catch up.

Our topics of choice: foreign policy and the Middle East. He would especially enjoy practicing his Arabic on me. In 2004, NIU decided to offer a year’s worth of Arabic classes. Steve took both classes without hesitation, excited as could be.

“Assalamo Alikum,” he would say to me, which means “peace be with you” in Arabic. He would proceed to ask me how I was doing and what I was up to, all in Arabic with a thick accent and a huge, excited smile.

Sometimes I was his walking dictionary and he would ask me, “What does this word mean in English?” or “What is this word in Arabic?”

We would debate on issues, sometimes argue, but he would always back his arguments with facts. It was about logic and things adding up to him.

Once we took a course called “The Politics of the Middle East.” At the beginning of the course, our instructor informed us a research paper would be due by the end of the semester. Steve decided on Hamas, which is known mainly to the world as being a Palestinian terrorist group, which was the first thing that interested Steve about the group. But he also heard Hamas funded many social services, which also interested him. How could one group be put into two completely different categories, Steve would ask.

Oh yes. Previous coverage mentioned his deep commitment to social justice.

This, by the way, isn't the first time that someone going on a mass murder spree has decided to identify in some way with our enemies. Patrick Purdy, the madman who murdered five children in a Stockton schoolyard in 1989, and wounded dozens more, had carved "Hezbollah" into the stock of his rifle.

I don't think either of these killers were al-Qaeda operatives. I think a better description is that people who are insane and intent on causing a lot of suffering identify with our enemies.

If not for Atlas Shrugs and WorldNetDaily, I would never have known about this.