It's amazing what can happen when we peacefully focus ourselves on a common objective.  The Washington Post quoted  the head of Norway's Police Security Service saying, "the public has never been at risk."  These suspects were all captured without a war.  These suspects were discovered before an actual attack took place.  This of course should raise the question of whether any of these men were guilty.  We cannot simply assume their guilt, but we must be vigilant at the same time. 

It is a paradox!

How do we protect ourselves from potential risk while still respecting the rights of human beings to be humans being?  CNN released the names of five men who were suspected of conspiring to attack the U.S. and U.K.  Of the five men, one was identified by three different first names which demonstrates the intelligence community is not perfect (which nobody should be expected to be) and we are all still at risk (an eternal condition of living.)  The fifth man was identified as Ahmad, Sohaib or Zahid. 

This report led me to do a bit of research on those names.  Ahmad means one who praises god.  This might suggest a strong religious connection to the group of attackers; however, it's important to remember at times like these that a name is only a name after all.  The name John means god is merciful, but not many John's I know wear the literal meaning of their name as any kind of religious badge.  Sohaib means  someone who is "white with a mix of reddish color" or "white with yellow shade."

Searching this name led me to read a blog by a Sohaib.  I didn't want to reach too much to indict anyone, so I didn't research beyond Google's first page results for the search "What does Sohaib mean?"  On that first page of results I found a web developer's blog.  This is not a website I would generally stick around for, because I understood very little of what he was writing about.  Yet, I persisted.  Posted March 2010, Sohaib somewhat apologetically deviated from his usual discussions about web code and offered an interesting post about his feelings.

"Without further a do  (which means bullshit) my conscious is really fucked up. It CANNOT figure out who is at fault besides our own selves, so it has dropped the idea altogether. It has thought and thought and thought about the current times. It has found no one at fault only but our own selves. It is full and it has exploded already ... and now ceasing to exist very soon.  I think to save my sanity I'd be better off WITHOUT a conscious in our society. I'd be better off letting small and petty issues like honesty bug me. After all, this "conscience" is creating a havoc in my life ... this "conscience" ... folks ... really is a menace isn't it ?"

The excerpt above quotes the final two of three paragraphs which conclude a declaration of Sohaib's frustration.  I don't know how many Sohaib's are out there, but the guy writing in this blog seems to be wrestling with the idea of doing something big.  Many times he essentially says, consequences be damned.  He's upset, idealistic and on the verge of being ready to make things happen.  It's hard for me to understand his plight, because I live in the United States and he lives in Pakistan.  He lives where there is only one fine cigar lounge according to his blog.  I'm not sure how many are in my area, but I'd guess at least five. 

(A quick websearch reveals at least 6 Hookah lounges but I can't be bothered to search any further.) 

He wants to live free from religion.  I can understand that.  He wants, it sounds like, to be more like Westerners in social arrangement if not actual emulation.  I take this from Sohaib's nostalgic sort of reference to European history.  Is this the same guy?  I have no idea and I'm not implying it is the same guy.  Sohaib's blog is a web developers website in which he writes about Cake-PHP web developer code.  He seems very knowledgeable; however, this is another arena in which I can't pretend to understand him.

The final name given for the fifth man indicted by the U.S. Justice Department, Zahid, means altruistic.  Searching the name Zahid led me to a wonderful blog by a gentleman named Zahid Hussain who purportedly lives in the United Kingdom.  On his website, he ponders big questions like how to make the world a better place.  He also has some wonderful poetry, but the piece which most caught my attention was a tract in which he questions professionalism and the horrors committed in the name of professionalism.  He poignantly makes the observation that, "If your conscience has no bearing on what you do and you only do what you do, because you get paid for it then welcome to the world of being professional."

Zahid's blog, like Sohaib's blog, expresses a certain amount of frustration with the world.  I understand their frustration too.  It seems we are really not so far apart; however, I would've never knew of their existence were it not for these five suspects charged on Wednesday.  Taking the time to do a little research led me to read two blogs which helped me understand the world a little bit better.  Taking the time to do a little research, potentially, led the U.S. Justice Department to thwart terrorist attacks before they occurred.

Our desire to change the world to fit our preconceived notions results in bombs going off, whether those bombs are authorized by a military or not.  It is our own lack of inner peace which leads us to kill others without thinking.  If we realistically think about our security, and minimizing risk, we will realize risk will never end because we always face an uncertain death.  We all face the certainty that at some point (it could be any point really) we will cease to exist.  We all can be certain that at some point all the connections we made while we were here will also cease to exist.  This certainty produces anxiety.

The true war though is the battle to quell that anxiety inside ourselves without inflicting more anxiety onto everyone else.