Psyche of a Suicide Bomber

[Astra]

I think this is a fairly good topic to discuss as most of the terrorist strikes take in the form of sucide bombing.

This is a topic worth thinking.
Why is the terrorist ready to kill himself?
He is not doing this for greed, because he does not gain anything from it.
How does he start beliving that he will become martyr?
Does he think himself as terrorist or the saviour of Islam?

But he has a message, which nobody is bothers to even think. He is telling something to people, even as he gladly acceps a violent death. I am sure it is not an easy thing to do.

And finally what can we do to save him from this evil?

 

[acidwolf]

the suicide bombers r brain washedand they get brain washed because they r not literate enough to think what is right and what is wrong

 

[Astra]

Do you think the guy who is suspected to have shot Bhutto was Uneducated?

Come'on, even animals dont want to die. Why does this Homosapien refrain from thinking.

 

[roadrunner]

Too much is made of suicide bombing and Islam, like you are making. Suicide bombings have been used for centuries to fight all guerilla wars between non Islamic combatants. Even Dravidians aren't immune from it.

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

Bhutto is a different issue. Anyone could have done it. Lots of young people would have done it for the nation and not for heavens---remember that---the statement that she made about handing A Q Khan to the u s and letting the u s forces into pakistan---. You didnot need to be a religious suicide bomber to go after her---you just needed to have passion abpout your country to do it.

I would go out on a limb and say that---if the u s had someone like Benazir---and that person would have made these statements of giving the assets to russia for interrogation and let russian troops into the u s----any red blooded american would have done the same as what happened to Benazir. She became a traitor. People despise traitors.

Case in point---Yitzhak Rabin---israeli right wing still to this day call him a traitor for making peace with egypt. It is ok for them to praise his assasin.

So, the original question---psyche of suicide bomber---the criteria does not fit this case. It is more like an executioner / assasin who willingly gave his life away to make other politicians wary of making any deals.

 

[JK!]

I saw an interview with a hamas militant once.

Far from religous rhetoric or reason it was more tactical than anything else.

He said that the israelis have there planes and tanks yet he has a kalashnikov and a couple of pounds of explosives. That is why they resort to suicide bombing.

The whole 70 virgins and promise of heaven is just to sell it to naive teenagers.

 

[niaz]

Most people will be willing to lay down their lives under certain circumstances.

First is for the "King and country". We had kamikazi bombers in the second world war. When you think what would the enemy do to your loved ones if you lose the battle, quite a few brave one would be ready to die. Rajputs used to kill off their women; in bid to avoid their being raped by the attackers (muslims) before fighting to the last man. You might call it patriotism.

Next one is religion. In Islam, if you die, you defintely go to heaven and if you survive you are doubly rewarded as you reaps rewards of victory and a place in heaven as well. This belief was one of the reasons for the exceptional valour of the early Muslims. Crusades were based on the theory that if you kill, the Christ is glorified. If you die glorifying the Christ, you are guaranteed heaven, thus you cannot lose.

In the Iran/Iraq war, young Irani conscripts were given a small key to wear around their neck. The key being symbolic key to the paradise !

In case of Pakistan, a young man, who has otherwise no hope of achieving much, if brainwashed into believing that by killing the supporters of US, he is doing Allah's will; he will probably be willing to scarifice himself. I heard Lal Masjid students on TV, who were claiming that this was a battle between "Haq" and 'Baatil'. And that Haq will previal in the end. Fact that their opponents were not kaffirs but also Muslims, was of no consequence to the LM students. SSP followers believe that killing Shias is Allah's work and guarantees heaven.

Regrettably, majority of the madrassah's teach a very narrow and distorted view of Islam, whereby only they are right and everyone else is wrong and therefore "Waajibul Qatal". Ghazi brothers had openly claimed that if they were attacked, they will send out hunderds of suicide bombers to take revenge.

Extra ordinary measures are required to cure our society from this malaise.
I know that many would disgaree with me, but I am convinced that a lot of madrassah's are nothing but the nursuries of the suicide bombers. Until such time that these breeding grounds of evil are totally eliminated, things will continue to turn from bad to worse. First was FATA, then Swat, now Kohat as well.

When will Pakistanis wake up to the fact that these suicide bombers are not following Allah's word but actually doing Satan's work by destroying the very fabric of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ??

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

Too much is made of suicide bombing and Islam, like you are making. Suicide bombings have been used for centuries to fight all guerilla wars between non Islamic combatants. Even Dravidians aren't immune from it.

No one is making Suicide bombing with Islam. It is just that Islam and suicide bombings because of contemporary events are quick on the recall.

Suicide bombing is hardly connected with religion per se since there has been various types of motivation for one to become a suicide bomber.

Here is perspective on The Mind Of A Suicide Bomber. Take it for what it is worth.

Inside The Mind Of A Suicide Bomber

ScienceDaily (Jun. 21, 2007) — Suicide bombers are not mentally ill or unhinged, but acting rationally in pursuit of the 'benefits' they perceive from being part of a strict and close-knit religious enterprise, according to a University of Nottingham academic.Research by Dr David Stevens, of the School of Politics and International Relations, suggests that the widely-held view of suicide bombers as brain-washed religious fanatics, vulnerable through youth and poverty, is not an accurate one.

Dr Stevens argues that while religion plays a central role — there are few instances of non-religiously motivated suicide attacks — the suicide bomber is also driven on another level by a rational thought process. This is the desire to be part of a group that engenders strength and solidarity from strictness, and encourages members to submit totally to the collective aims of the group.

Being part of an exclusive group with very strict beliefs requires intense commitment, and engenders a deep belief in shared experience and self-sacrifice, according to a recent paper by Dr Stevens.

Suicide bombers are thus motivated by a “simple cost-benefit analysis”, in which the 'benefits' of self-destruction outweigh the cost. The benefits are perceived by the terrorist to be so great — in terms of membership of the group, achievement of collective goals, the promise of benefits in the after-life, and so on — that they outweigh the cost.

In this way there is a 'marriage' of violence and religion, via the suicide bomber's participation in the group, Dr Stevens suggests.

“Seen in this light, suicide bombing is explicable in terms of rationally motivated actions, and not in terms of theological and/or irrational motives,” he said. “To gain the collective benefits of participation in a strict group requires self-sacrifice, often of extreme levels.

“Suicide bombing is just an extension of this self-sacrifice — the ultimate extension. The benefits are perceived to be so great as to justify the action. Fortunately this is so only in extreme instances, under certain circumstances.

“But then suicide bombing is in actual fact very rare. Rare, that is, when it is remembered that extreme religious groups make up only a tiny fraction of religious groups as a whole, and 99.99 per cent of those groups are in fact peaceable.

“Statistically, then, finding one or two people willing to make such a sacrifice is incredibly rare. However, given the nature of suicide bombing, it only takes one or two.”

The attractions of intense solidarity don't only apply to fringe Islamic sects, but also to other extreme religious groups, Dr Stevens said. Many members of other such groups — from the Moonies to the Branch Davidians — explain their decisions to join, and as importantly to leave, in terms of the costs and benefits of participation rather than in the context of a 'brainwashing' process.

Dr Stevens also argues that contrary to popular opinion, poverty, isolation and lack of education are not typical features of the bomber profile. Mohammad Sidique Khan, for example, who blew himself up in London on July 7, 2005, murdering six people in the process, was a 30-year-old with a young family of his own and a job working in primary schools with special needs children.

Likewise it is a common misconception that suicide bombers are mentally ill or irrational, Dr Stevens argues — because it would make them a liability to the terrorist groups with which they were involved.

He said: “From purely an organisational point of view, working with deranged individuals is extremely hazardous. Terror organisations go to extreme lengths to keep their activities and set-up secret. The costs of discovery are immense for all involved.

“Under such circumstances, who would want to work with someone completely unpredictable — a maverick, a loose cannon — someone likely to give the game away at any stage through an act of sheer madness? Even terrorists don't want to work with those with a death-wish — you achieve very little that way.”

Adapted from materials provided by University of Nottingham

Inside The Mind Of A Suicide Bomber