Are Suicide Bombers Crazy

What Triggers 4

What Triggers Suicide Bombings ?

Ariva D’Erchi

Composition II

Cecelia Munzenmaier

Hamilton College

October 30, 2005

What Triggers Suicide Bombings?

Are suicide bombers crazy? At first, the answer seems obvious: they must be crazy to blow themselves up and kill innocent people in the process. However, several studies have found that suicide bombers are psychologically normal (Atran, 2004; Hudson, 1999; Sageman, 2004). What then explains the decision to blow themselves up? Suicide bombers are unlikely to commit violence until they identify with a terrorist group (Atran, 2004; Volkan, n.d.). While understanding of their motives is far from complete, it is increasingly evident that suicide bombers are best understood, not as individuals, but as members of a group.

Suicide Bombers Are Normal Individuals

Americans tend to misunderstand suicide bombers, according to Scott Atran (2004). Suicide attackers are commonly viewed as “crazed, cowardly, apathetic, or asocial” (p. 17), but they are generally none of these things. Atran, an anthropologist, interviewed failed suicide bombers and family members of successful bombers. He found “these people are fairly well-educated, mostly middle class, and not acting at all in despair” (as cited in Research, 2003). This

* finding is consistent with the online biographies of 430 suicide bombers in Iraq many of those profiled in The Martyrs of the Land of the Two Rivers are college-educated, and they are often praised for sacrificing their “wealth and good prospects” (Haqqani & Kimmage, 2005, p. 14). In fact, terrorist groups often recruit successful people with good educations because they have proven that they will work hard for future rewards (Atran, pp.76–77).

These findings suggest that terrorists look and act like normal people. They appear to be mentally normal as well. No one has been able to construct a profile of a typical terrorist (Hudson, 1999, p. 64). In fact, Crenshaw found that “the outstanding common characteristic of terrorists is their normality (as cited in Hudson, 1999, p. 30), and Taylor and Quade could find no psychological differences between non-terrorists and those who had committed terrorist acts (p. 31). Psychiatrist Marc Sageman (2004) studied 400 Al-Quaeda members and concluded that “only 4 of the 400 men had any hint of a disorder” (The Data section). He did not find the results surprising: “People who are antisocial usually don’t cooperate well enough with others to join groups. This is a well-organized type of terrorism. . . . Loners are weeded out early on” (The Data section).

Identification with a Terrorist Group Turns Normal Individuals into Human Bombs

How does a normal individual become a suicide bomber? Psychologist Vamik D. Volkan (n.d.) believes that suicide bombings can only be explained by understanding the psychology of the terrorist group. He describes the two-step process used to “create” a suicide bomber. First,

* recruiters find young people whose identities have been damaged. Perhaps by exposure to violence or by personal shame. These recruits are looking for something outside themselves to restore their self-esteem and give their lives meaning. Their trainers give them a new identity as

* fighters for a cause. Everything the recruits are asked to do for the cause. Is justified by religion. Their personal values are replaced by the beliefs of the group, and the idea that they are fighting for a holy cause makes them feel “omnipotent” (Education section).

* Once recruits have identified with a terrorist group they are willing to take extreme risks

because they feel invulnerable. They believe their acts to be justified because they are morally superior to others and their enemy is completely evil. Their individual motives and values are

* replaced by group-think dissent or questioning of the group’s norms is not encouraged (Hudson,

* p. 81).

* To turn recruits into human bombs, “Charismatic trainers . . . intensely cultivate mutual

* commitment to die within small cells of three to six members (Atran, 2005, The Institutional Factor section). Long hours of intense training build loyalty to the group (Iannaccone, 2003, p.9). Those selected for suicide missions are not allowed to see their families or watch television

* (Volkan, n.d.). “The final step before a martyrdom operation is a formal social contract. Usually

* in the form of a video testament” (www.twq.com/04summer/docs/04summer_atran.pdf).

This identification with the group is reinforced by “psychologically effective ritual” (Volkan, n.d.). For example, Volkan describes the instructions followed by the 9/11 hijackers. A series of steps, from tying shoes to checking weapons, made it “psychologically easy” to move from “leaving one’s apartment to hijacking and crashing an airplane.” Cronin (2003) describes “elaborate” (p. 11) rituals used to prepare suicide bombers. Bombers who have been chosen for an attack are called “the living dead” (p. 11). They might be taken to an open grave, where they lie to get a foretaste of the peace they expect to feel after their mission. They often make videotapes or leave letters for their families. This long, public preparation makes it “virtually impossible to back out of an attack without losing honor and a place in society” (p. 11).

Suicide Bombers Are Best Understood as Members of a Group

Americans tend to think of suicide bombers as “individuals taking individual decisions to

** kill people”. (Timothy Spengler, as cited in Atran, 2004, p. 82) However, the key to

* understanding their actions to understand the organizations that recruit and train them. Their choices are influenced more by group-think than their own will (Atran, 2004; Hudson, 1999; Volkan, n.d.). As Cronin (2003) concludes, “Although research indicates that individual suicide

** attackers make choices and are not technically ‘crazy.” According to experts they are often manipulated by the pressures and belief structures of the group” (p. 8). The most critical choice an individual makes about suicide bombing is not when to press the trigger, but whether to join a terrorist group.

References

* Haqqani, H., & Kimmage, D. (2005, October 3). Suicidology: The online bios of Iraq’s “martyrs.” New Republic, 233(14), 14–16. Retrieved October 23, 2005, from Academic Search Elite database.

Atran, S. (2004, Summer). Mishandling suicide terrorism. The Washington Quarterly, 27(3), 67–90. Retrieved October 21 from the Center for Strategic and International Studies Web site: http://www.twq.com/04summer/docs/04summer_atran.pdf

Atran, S. (2005). The genesis and future of suicide terrorism. Retrieved October 23, 2005, from the Interdisciplines Web site: http://www.interdisciplines.org/terrorism/papers/1

Cronin, A. K. (2003, August 28). Terrorists and suicide attacks. CRS Report RL32058. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. Retrieved October 24, 2005, from Federation of American Scientists Web site: www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL32058.pdf

Hudson, R. A. (1999, September) The sociology and psychology of terrorism: Who becomes a terrorist and why? Retrieved October 23, 2005, from Library of Congress Web site: http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/Soc_Psych_of_Terrorism.pdf

* Iannaccone, L. R. (2003, December). The Market for martyrs. Retrieved October 10, 2005, from George Mason University Web site: http://gunston.doit.gmu.edu/liannacc/ERel/S2-Archives/Iannaccone%20-%20Market%20for%20Martyrs.pdf

Sageman, M. (2004). Understanding terror networks. Retrieved October 24, 2005 from National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT) Web site: http://www.mipt.org/Understanding-Terror-Networks-Sageman.asp

Volkan, V. D. (n.d.) Suicide bombers. Retrieved October 20, 2005, from http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/csmhi/suicide-bomber-psychology.pdf