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A Jihadist's Tale: How a Young Jordanian Left His American Life and Died an Insurgent in Iraq


(TIME) Scott Macleod - Ra'ed al-Banna loved America. He told his family back in Jordan about the honesty and kindness of Americans. After a visit home in 2003, he was denied entry at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for apparently falsifying details on his visa application. Al-Banna's life took a turn that led him down the path of radical Islam and ultimately to join the insurgency against the U.S. in Iraq. His odyssey ended on March 3 when al-Banna's brother Ahmed received a call, "Congratulations, your brother has fallen a martyr." On Feb. 28, in the worst single massacre since the U.S. invasion, a suicide bomber detonated himself outside a health clinic in the city of Hilla, killing at least 125 people. On March 11 the Amman daily Al-Ghad identified Ra'ed al-Banna as the attacker.
2005-04-01 00:00:00
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