Al Qaeda’s Engineer

Thank you for “The Plots and Designs of Al Qaeda’s Engineer” (Dec. 22), your fascinating account of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, “the man who engineered Sept. 11.”

In it we learn that Mohammed may well have been one of the “Abbie Dahbies” [a local name for Middle Eastern students] at Chowan College in North Carolina who was on the receiving end of some harmless pranks, such as having his shoes (left in the hall according to Middle Eastern custom) tossed in the lake or having a large water-filled garbage bin propped against his door, set up to flood his room when he answered a knock. Later, I guess, Mohammed got in a few pranks of his own.

Mark Srednicki

Santa Barbara