After Mohamed Merah died in a hail of French police bullets last Thursday, people who had known him talked about "a polite and courteous boy" who liked "cars, bikes, sports and girls." His friends had trouble believing that he had murdered seven people, including three children, in a 10-day killing spree in the city of Toulouse, and none of them believed his claim to be a member of al-Qaida. "Three weeks ago he was in a nightclub," one said.

The following day, in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales was charged with murdering 17 Afghans, including nine children, in a lone night-time attack on sleeping civilians in two villages near Kandahar two weeks ago.

"I can't believe it was him," said Kasie Holland, his next-door neighbor in Lake Tapps, Washington. "There were no signs. It's really sad. I don't want to believe that he did it."