FROM a New York Times report about the two brothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi, believed to have been the gunmen in the massacre in Paris on Wednesday:

The massacre, which singled out cartoonists and other staff members at a newspaper that frequently mocked Islam, Christianity and all forms of religious and secular authority, left France stunned. It also raised questions about how Chérif Kouachi, so well known to the police for so many years, and his brother had managed to conceal their intentions. [Do any “terrorists” openly announce their intentions?] Part of the answer may be that they appear to have moved smoothly between normal immigrant society and an extremist Islamist underground. [Normal immigrant society is Muslim.] Born in the 10th Arrondissement, they came from secular backgrounds and initially drifted into petty delinquencies, not religious fanaticism. [To kill for the prophet is not Islamic fanaticism unless Mohammed was also an Islamic “extremist,” in which case all Muslims are extremists.]

Libération, a French newspaper, described Chérif Kouachi as an orphan whose parents were Algerian immigrants. It said he was raised in foster care in Rennes, in western France, and trained as a fitness instructor before moving to Paris, where he lived with his brother Said in the home of a convert to Islam. He held menial jobs, working at times as a pizza delivery man, shop assistant and fishmonger. [In other words, they found work and opportunity in France, but still resented their adopted country.]

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