
The Talented Mr. Khater - karjaluoto
http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/university-of-texas-grad-versus-international-conman
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hitekker
Excellent article. This one part stuck out to me:

> Youssef was dangerous, Callie stressed, and though Molly believed her—and
> the doctor determined that her head injury had not affected her recall—Ed
> and Sabi were skeptical. When Molly relayed the story to them in the ER
> waiting room, the two exchanged glances. It wasn’t possible. Callie had to
> be confused.

> ...

> Half an hour later, unable to fall asleep, Sabi heard the stairs creak, then
> a knock on her door. It was Youssef. He looked devastated. “My mother is
> dead,” he told her. “I’ve got to fly to Denmark.”

> Sabi stared, jangly with exhaustion and now fright. “Okay,” she said. A
> couple of hours later, Ed helped Youssef load his bags into a cab.

I don't quite know what to say about people like Sabi and Ed. I am reminded of
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Eichmanns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Eichmanns),
but maybe this, admittedly overused quote, sums up my feelings better:

> In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence
> of our friends. -MLK

What poor human beings those two are.

Finally, Spoiler Alert!

> Then, just before the guards ushered him out, Youssef had twisted around,
> looked at her with his luminous brown eyes, and winked.

The mark of a monster. The article describes psychopathy in clinical terms
but, especially in this case, I don't believe we should sophisticate evil.
Yes, the concept of evil differs from time to time, culture to culture, but it
seems too easy to make excuses for the depraved rather than to commit to
decisive action to stop them.

