Moeed Abdul Salam didn't descend into radical Islam for lack of other options. He grew up in a well-off Texas household, attended a pricey boarding school and graduated from one of the state's most respected universities.
But what makes his recruitment most unlikely is his family: Two generations had spent years promoting interfaith harmony and combating Muslim stereotypes in their hometown and even on national television.Salam rejected his relatives' moderate faith and comfortable life, choosing instead a path that led him to work for al Qaeda. His odyssey ended Nov. 19 in a middle-of-the-night explosion in Pakistan. The 37-year-old father of four was dead after paramilitary troops stormed his apartment.Officers said Salam committed suicide with a grenade. An Islamic media group said the troops killed him.Salam's death went largely unnoticed in the U.S. and drew limited attention in Pakistan. But the circumstances threatened to overshadow the work of an American family devoted to religious understanding. And his mysterious evolution presented a reminder of the attraction that Pakistan still holds for Islamic militants, especially well-educated Westerners whose Internet and language skills make them useful converts for jihad."There are things that we don't want to happen but we have to accept, things that we don't want to know but we have to learn, and a loved one we can't live without but have to let go," Salam's mother, Hasna Shaheen Salam, wrote last month on her Facebook page.The violence didn't stop after Salam died. Weeks later, fellow militants killed three soldiers with a roadside bomb to avenge the raid.It is unclear how much Salam's family knew of his radicalism, but on his Facebook page the month before he died, he posted an image of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American al Qaeda leader killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, beside a burning American flag. After his death, the Global Islamic Media Forum, a propaganda group for al Qaeda and its allies, hailed Salam as a martyr.A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said Salam's role grew over the years, from propagandist to operative.The family, originally from Pakistan, immigrated to the U.S. decades ago. Salam's father was a pilot for a Saudi airline, and the family eventually settled in Plano. Its cream-colored brick home, assessed at nearly $400,000, stands on a corner lot in a quiet upper-class neighborhood.The family obtained American citizenship in 1986. Salam went to Suffield Academy in Connecticut, an expensive private high school. He graduated in 1992.A classmate, Wadiya Wynn, of Laurel, Md., recalled that Salam played golf and sang in an a cappella group and that he hung out with "hippie-ish" friends.Salam went on to study history at the University of Texas at Austin and graduated in 1996.His Facebook profile indicated that he had moved to Saudi Arabia by 2003 and begun working as a translator, writer and editor for websites about Islam.Salam, who had apparently been active in militant circles for as long as nine years, arrived three years ago in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, and became an important link for al Qaeda, the Taliban and other extremists, according to an al Qaeda operative.Salam traveled to the tribal areas close to the Afghan border for meetings with senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, the operative said. He handled money and logistics and delivered instructions from others in the network.Back in the United States, Salam's mother is a prominent resident of Plano, where she is co-chairwoman of a city advisory group called the Plano Multicultural Outreach Roundtable, as well as a former president of the Texas Muslim Women's Foundation.The founder of the latter group, Hind Jarrah, said Shaheen and her husband are too upset to speak with anyone."She's a committed American citizen. She's a hard worker," Jarrah said, calling her "one of the nicest, most committed, most open-minded" women she's ever met.In addition, Salam's brother, Monem, has traveled the country speaking about Islam, seeking to correct misconceptions after 9-11.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
