Almost unlimited doses of sex, corruption, desperation, and most of all, a chain of interesting fictional life stories fill the pages of Alaa Aswani's new thick novel, Chicago. The author, an Egyptian dentist, does a great job in describing the lives of seven medical students from Egypt who resent the corrupted life of the Middle East and pursue scholarships to finish their medical studies in Chicago, Illinois. The plot reveals the day-to-day struggles of young immigrants in the estranged, materialistic USA, a country that learned to dismay its Muslim immigrants and marked them as a whole by the mark of Cain. This alienation drives the seven students to the mosques, and this is where real problems begin. On one hand, the students are filled with hatred towards American society and its values. On the other hand, they seek revenge upon their former state of life in Egypt-the same conditions that transported them to Chicago.

This book may be just another good read containing colorful descriptions, not unlike others written by Middle-Eastern born authors who have succeeded in capturing the westernized readers' imagination (e.g., Khaled Husseini and his Kite Runner). What makes Chicago different is not the personal resemblance of Aswani's private life through his characters, but the horrific prediction of events that occurred in the United Kingdom recently.  The cell that was arrested in Great Britain for conspiring to launch deadly terror attacks in and around the United Kingdom counted seven medical doctors and future doctors.

Getting accepted into medical schools is not very easy, to say the least, and this fact is true globally in any geographical location. Succeeding in medical school is another challenge whereby the sociological prestige associated with medical doctors is but one reward for the demanding journey they encounter on their long road to become MDs. What then leads a medical doctor, who takes the Hippocratic Oath, and who treats both friend and foe, betray these values and turn to the most horrific form of crime-terror? 

The association of medical doctors and terrorism goes back a few decades. Dr. George Habash established the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1967. This young doctor was in charge of large-scale terrorist operations against Israeli and pro-Israeli targets. The most spectacular of these was the hijacking of four Western airliners to a desert airstrip in Jordan in September 1970. Three decades later, Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, the Hamas co-founder, decided to leave his profession as a pediatrician and direct the Hamas armed struggle against Israel. Doctors are known for their ability to consume enormous amounts of data and apply it when necessary for a diagnosis. Doctors are also known for their ability to shift their focus from one subject to another (one might call it research). In the late 1980's, a young dental student of Middle Eastern origin unearthed something that was discovered much earlier in the century by a German scientist who then stored it away due to its sensitivity and lack of commercial value. This invention was a chemical combination of acetone and hydrogen peroxide. The combination is a very effective cleaning solution but under certain conditions could create a blast. The young dentist student, who was instructed to clean fake teeth with the solution, was also warned that it might explode in his face if he weren't cautious. One of the most powerful improvised explosives, TATP, was created right there and eventually launched a deadly parade of terror attacks.

Why would people with medical degrees engage in terror activity? What makes them ignore their humanitarian oath and execute a deadly act? What drives them to give up years of intensive education and follow a path that would not reward them with prosperity, prestige, or happy endings (some of the incentives that motivate people to undergo the exhaustive process of medical school)? The answer might be found in the end results of terror in general-the surprise and shock, the fear, and at the same time, the material news terror attacks generate.

The important fact we should take from this piece of information is that terror is not a default occupation for the depressed, uneducated, or poor people. We have learned of stereotypical young males, socially detached from society, illiterate, mentally disabled, and from very weak socio economic backgrounds. These characteristics almost justify the involvement of an individual with terror activity. I heard someone say that stereotypes, although politically incorrect, are based on realism and statistics. Recent events show something we noticed long before, that even those with well respected degrees and promising futures can be involved in terror activity and even suicidal terrorism.

While writing the book, I doubt Alaa Aswani could have been telepathic of today's "Mighty Seven" terror operatives in the United Kingdom who also possessed medical degrees. The coincidence of the novel's characters coming to life would have been almost surreal.

There are techniques to mitigate and deter terrorism. The latest incidents in the UK exemplify that terror is sophisticated and not spontaneous and therefore requires us to apply more sophisticated tools for its deterrence. It's scary to think that Chicago would become a part of our lives. Let's hope that Rain for the Wicked won't turn into a reality as well. I'd hate to say, "I told you so!"