A Jihadist's Tale

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For all the emotion it has stirred, the attack remains shrouded in mystery. The accounts of the Bannas' reported exuberance at Ra'ed's funeral have been refuted by other accounts of the event, which depict the family as distraught. In interviews with TIME at their home in Amman, al-Banna's family members denied that Ra'ed was the Hilla bomber; instead, they say, he died in an insurgent operation in Mosul. They point out that Al-Ghad later retracted its report citing Ra'ed as the culprit. In some respects, the Bannas resemble the many other families around the Arab world whose sons have gone to fight and die in Iraq. But the Bannas also express astonishment that Ra'ed joined the insurgency, insisting that he had never shown signs of Islamic extremism or hatred for the West. On the basis of accounts given by his family, friends and neighbors, Ra'ed apparently led a double life, professing affection for America while secretly preparing to join the holy war against the U.S. in Iraq. "Something went wrong with Ra'ed, and it is a deep mystery," says his father Mansour, 56. "What happened to my son?"

Born in 1973, Ra'ed grew up in a comfortable merchant family that was religious but not rigidly so. After his son graduated from Jordan's Mu'tah University, Ra'ed's father set him up with a law office in Amman, but in three years the practice failed to prosper. In 1999, his family says, Ra'ed spent six months as an unpaid intern at the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Amman, working with a legal-protection unit to help Iraqis fleeing Saddam Hussein's regime. When his father questioned the lack of salary, Ra'ed replied that he envisioned a future career as a U.N. official. "Ra'ed always wanted to be a leader," Mansour explains.

Sometime before Sept. 11, 2001, Ra'ed scored a visa to the U.S., in the hope of enrolling at an American law school. "If you are not successful," his father told him, "just don't get a job as a dishwasher." As it happens, Ra'ed appears to have bounced among odd jobs while in the U.S. But if he was disappointed by his fortunes, Ra'ed didn't tell his family. The photo albums his family keeps show him in various all-American settings: enjoying a crab dinner, walking on a California beach and sitting on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. In one picture, apparently taken at a weekend fair, he is standing in front of a military helicopter, holding up a tiny U.S. flag.

His family can provide few other details about his life in the U.S. To this day, family members know he lived in California for nearly two years, but they have no idea where. After being denied entry to the U.S. in 2003, Ra'ed returned to Jordan and became withdrawn. Although outwardly charming, he coveted his privacy. Throughout 2004 he holed up in a makeshift studio apartment in the family's backyard, often sleeping until noon. The room features a television with satellite channels, a stereo with huge speakers and a motorcycle helmet, a prized souvenir from the U.S. A poster hanging over the sofa depicts an F-117 Stealth fighter in flight over a city that looks like Los Angeles.