Desperation has nothing to do with the crimes they commit.
=============
But of course, there are other sorts of desperation than what's caused by poverty or a lack of education.
Terrorists who commit murder, taking their own lives in the process, are nihilists and I'd argue, desperate in a rather profound way.
Having a nice car in the driveway and a degree or two on the wall does not address this sort of desperation.
I remember reading an essay (in Al Ahram I think though perhaps not given the topic) about Egyptian youth, graduates of good schools living middle class lives who, nevertheless felt a deep frustration and sense of imprisonment because of the stifling atmosphere created by Mubarak's government and its jihadi opponents - the only counterweight since political dissent is brutally suppressed.
That some of these desperate people would become nihilists and turn their lethal attentions to the friend of their enemy should not be surprising.
.d.