Aaron & Ahmed: A Love Story is a graphic novel by Jay Cantor (writer), James Romberger (artist) and Jose Villarrubia (colorist) published by Vertigo.
I was looking forward to this book because the subject matter was about what causes terrorism. I find that topic to be of intense interest because I personally have the viewpoint that we have created many of our own problems. Most Americans don't pay attention or are unaware of our activities in the world, but what we have done in many countries has created hostility towards us. Of course that does not justify 9/11 or other acts, but to understand what is going on we have to try and be objective. Going back further in history I'm sure the colonial revolutionist were considered terrorists to the British.
A long preamble, but I was excited to think someone was doing a book about this topic. It is about an American Army Doctor who loses his fiancee during 9/11 and who signs up to be at Guantanamo Bay. Since Dr. Aaron Goodman is a psychiatrist he decides to try a very different method with Ahmed to learn what information he may have regarding our war on the terrorists.
In the beginning the book is about how the relationship between the two builds. Trust is extremely hard to come by and both are playing the other in many ways. Dr. Goodman is, for example, feeding estrogen to him so he will be more emotional. Unknown to Dr. Goodman, Ahmed has found out and is avoiding it.
We get into an examination of programing and the theory that memes can almost be a virus. Aaron and Ahmed escape to try and find out how to turn off suicide bombers and learn how they are programmed. This leads to Aaron and Ahmed getting back to the terrorist camps and Aaron getting programed — then covertly returning into the US for Aaron to be used as a suicide bomber. Their friendship blossoms into an almost love affair, which besides a kiss that was more for shock is never fully played out.
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