Atta and cohorts weren't irrational

According to Mr. Jarad's definition of terrorism (Jan. 20 Fence Post), the media uses ”terrorist” only for those who profess faith in Islam, a holy religion of God. Furthermore, he calls for the media to identify the “alleged” hijacker Mohammed Atta as “delusional, erratic and unstable” without reference to his professed religion.

He apparently forgets that rational Wahhabi Saudi Muslims were able to convince 19 young rational men to commit suicide motivated by the prospect of enjoying companionship with virgins in the afterlife. Were the hijackers really clinically depressed before taking their lives, as practically all suicide victims are?

They passed flight simulator training, schemed their way through airports and aimed airplanes into buildings in a well-orchestrated event of mass murder. They believed a jihadic tenet of Islamic religion about being rewarded for killing infidels. I don't believe Atta or his fellow cohorts were irrational at all. They believed their mission was an act of martyrdom.

Might not the tenet of Islamic faith, which motivated their bizarre behavior itself be delusional? Would these same men have taken their lives without the promise of virgins in heaven? When Mr. Jarad can address these issues about 9/11, possibly I'll be able to take Islam more seriously as the peace-loving holy religion of God it claims for itself.

Paul O. Bischoff

Wheaton