[Skybird]

My impression at this point is that we have seen a mental shortcut here, caused by the ongoing harassement, the wounds in returning soldiers that he has seen, his isolated family life (found no wife to marry), and his worst case scenario of being sent to oversea deployement, where his cultural background would collide with the reality at location and the role the military plays in that, and in causing those wounds on the wounded he has seen.

How you can find a comprimise between being a devout Musolim, and serving in the US military and in it's current wars, is beyond me. As I see it you must seriously distort yourself in order to get both under one hat. This guy probably was no extremist or religious fanatic, at least I conclude that by his biography at BBC, but his life must have put him under immense pressures that his "inner dam" now could no longer tame - and so it broke into pieces...