C/P long but interesting.<br /><br />Subject: FW: The psychology behind suicide bombings<br /><br /><br />Sent: Friday, February 17, 2006 4:17 PM<br />Subject: The psychology behind suicide bombings<br /><br /><br />The mind of a suicide bomber. Interesting read. The news is not good. <br />Read on.<br />Mike<br /><br />The psychology behind suicide bombings<br /><br />By Pierre Rehov, French Documentary Filmmaker<br /><br /><br />On July 15, MSNBC's Connected" program discussed the 7/7 London<br />attacks. One of the guests was Pierre Rehov, a French filmmaker who has<br />filmed six documentaries on the intifada by going undercover in the<br />Palestinian areas. Pierre's upcoming film,Suicide Killers," is based on<br />interviews that he conducted with the families of suicide bombers and<br />would-be bombers in an attempt to find out why they do it. Pierre agreed<br />to a request for a Q&A interview here about his work on the new film. Many<br />thanks to Dean Draznin and Arlyn Riskind for helping to arrange this<br />special interview.<br /><br /><br />What inspired you to produce "Suicide Killers," your seventh film?<br /><br /><br />I started working with victims of suicide attacks to make a film on<br />PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) when I became fascinated with the<br />personalities of those who had committed those crimes, as they were<br />described again and again by their victims; especially the fact that<br />suicide bombers are all smiling one second before they blow themselves up.<br /><br /><br />Why is this film especially important?<br /><br /><br />People don't understand the devastating culture behind this<br />unbelievable phenomenon. My film is not politically correct because it<br />addresses the real problem-showing the real face of Islam. It points the<br />finger against a culture of hatred in which the uneducated are brainwashed<br />to a level where their only solution in life becomes to kill themselves<br />and kill others in the name of a God whose word, as transmitted by other<br />men, has became their only certitude.<br /><br /><br />What insights did you gain from making this film? What do you know<br />that other experts do not know?<br /><br /><br />I came to the conclusion that we are facing a neurosis at the level of<br />an entire civilization. Most neuroses have in common a dramatic event,<br />generally linked to an unacceptable sexual behavior. In this case, we are<br />talking of kids living all their lives in pure frustration, with no<br />opportunity to experience sex, love, tenderness or even understanding from<br />the opposite sex. The separation between men and women in Islam is<br />absolute. So is contempt toward women, who are totally dominated by men.<br />This leads to a situation of pure anxiety, in which normal behavior is not<br />possible. It is no coincidence that suicide killers are mostly young men<br />dominated subconsciously by an overwhelming libido that they not only<br />cannot satisfy but are afraid of, as if it is the work of the devil. Since<br />Islam describes heaven as a place where everything on earth will finally be<br />allowed, and promises 72 virgins to those frustrated kids, killing others<br />and killing themselves to reach this redemption<br />becomes their only solution.<br /><br /><br />What was it like to interview would-be suicide bombers, their families<br />and survivors of suicide bombings?<br /><br /><br />It was a fascinating and a terrifying experience. You are dealing with<br />seemingly normal people with very nice manners who have their own logic,<br />which to a certain extent can make sense since they are so convinced that<br />what they say is true. It is like dealing with pure craziness, like<br />interviewing people in an asylum, since what they say, is for them, the<br />absolute truth. I hear a mother saying "Thank God, my son is dead." Her son<br />had became a shaheed, a martyr, which for her was a greater source of pride<br />than if he had became an engineer, a doctor or a winner of the Nobel Prize.<br />This system of values works completely backwards since their interpretation<br />of Islam worships death much more than life. You are facing people whose<br />only dream, only achievement is to fulfill what they believe to be their<br />destiny, namely to be a shaheed or the family of a shaheed. They don't see<br />the innocent being killed, they only see the impure that they have to<br />destroy.<br /><br /><br />You say suicide bombers experience a moment of absolute power, beyond<br />punishment. Is death the ultimate power?<br /><br /><br />Not death as an end, but death as a door open to the after life. They<br />are seeking the reward that God has promised them. They work for God, the<br />ultimate authority, above all human laws. They therefore experience this<br />single delusional second of absolute power, where nothing bad can ever<br />happen to them, since they become God's sword.<br /><br /><br />Is there a suicide bomber personality profile? Describe the<br />psychopathology.<br /><br /><br />Generally kids between 15 and 25 bearing a lot of complexes, generally<br />inferiority complexes. They must have been fed with religion. They usually<br />have a lack of developed personality. Usually they are impressionable<br />idealists. In the western world they would easily have become drug addicts,<br />but not criminals. Interestingly, they are not criminals since they don't<br />see good and evil the same way that we do. If they had been raised in an<br />Occidental culture, they would have hated violence. But they constantly<br />battle against their own death anxiety. The only solution to this<br />deep-seated pathology is to be willing to die and be rewarded in the after<br />life in Paradise.<br /><br /><br />Are suicide bombers principally motivated by religious conviction?<br /><br /><br />Yes, it is their only conviction. They don't act to gain a territory<br />or to find freedom or even dignity. They only follow Allah, the supreme<br />judge, and what He tells them to do.<br /><br /><br />Do all Muslims interpret jihad and martyrdom in the same way?<br /><br /><br />All Muslim believers believe that, ultimately, Islam will prevail on<br />earth. They believe this is the only true religion and there is no room, in<br />their mind, for interpretation. The main difference between moderate<br />Muslims and extremists is that moderate Muslims dont think they will see<br />the absolute victory of Islam during their life time, therefore they<br />respect other beliefs. The extremists believe that the fulfillment of the<br />Prophecy of Islam and ruling the entire world as described in the Koran is<br />for today. Each victory of Bin Laden convinces 20 million moderate Muslims<br />to become extremists.<br /><br /><br />Describe the culture that manufactures suicide bombers.<br /><br /><br />Oppression, lack of freedom, brain washing, organized poverty,<br />placing God in charge of daily life, total separation between men and<br />women, forbidding sex, giving women no power whatsoever, and placing men<br />in charge of family honor, which is mainly connected to their women's<br />behavior.<br /><br /><br />What socio-economic forces support the perpetuation of suicide<br />bombings?<br /><br /><br />Muslim charity is usually a cover for supporting terrorist<br />organizations. But one has also to look at countries like Pakistan, Saudi<br />Arabia and Iran, which are also supporting the same organizations through<br />different networks. The ironic thing in the case of Palestinian suicide<br />bombers is that most of the money comes through financial support from the<br />Occidental world, donated to a culture that utterly hates and rejects the<br />West (mainly symbolized by Israel).<br /><br /><br />Is there a financial support network for the families of the suicide<br />bombers? If so, who is paying them and how does that affect the decision?<br /><br /><br />There used to be a financial incentive in the days of Saddam Hussein<br />($25,000 per family) and Yasser Arafat (smaller amounts), but these days<br />are gone. It is a mistake to believe that these families would sacrifice<br />their children for money. Although, the children themselves who are very<br />attached to their families, might find in this financial support another<br />reason to become suicide bombers. It is like buying a life insurance policy<br />and then committing suicide.<br /><br /><br />Why are so many suicide bombers young men?<br /><br /><br />As discussed above, libido is paramount. Also ego, because this is a<br />sure way to become a hero. The shaheeds are the cowboys or the firemen of<br />Islam. Shaheed is a positively reinforced value in this culture. And what<br />kid has never dreamed of becoming a cowboy or a fireman?<br /><br /><br />What role does the U.N. play in the terrorist equation?<br /><br /><br />The UN is in the hands of Arab countries and third world or<br />ex-communists countries. Their hands are tied. The UN has condemned Israel<br />more than any other country in the world, including the regime of Castro,<br />Idi Amin or Kaddahfi. By behaving this way, the UN leaves a door open by<br />not openly condemning terrorist organizations. In addition, through UNRWA,<br />the UN is directly tied to terror organizations such as Hamas,<br />representing 65 percent of their apparatus in the so-called Palestinian<br />refugee camps. As a support to Arab countries, the UN has maintained<br />Palestinians in camps with the hope to "return" into Israel for more than<br />50 years, therefore making it impossible to settle those populations, which<br />still live in deplorable conditions. Four-hundred million dollars are spent<br />every year, mainly financed by U.S. taxes, to support 23,000 employees of<br />UNRWA, many of whom belong to terrorist organizations (see Congressman Eric<br />Cantor on this subject, and in my film "Hostages of<br />Hatred").<br /><br /><br />You say that a suicide bomber is a 'stupid bomb and a smart bomb'<br />simultaneously. Explain what you mean.<br /><br /><br />Unlike an electronic device, a suicide killer has until the last<br />second the capacity to change his mind. In reality, he is nothing but a<br />platform representing interests which are not his, but he doesn't know it.<br /><br /><br />How can we put an end to the madness of suicide bombings and terrorism<br />in general?<br /><br /><br />Stop being politically correct and stop believing that this culture is<br />a victim of ours. Radical Islamism today is nothing but a new form of<br />Nazism. Nobody was trying to justify or excuse Hitler in the 1930s. We had<br />to defeat him in order to make peace one day with the German people.<br /><br /><br />Are these men traveling outside their native areas in large numbers?<br />Based on your research, would you predict that we are beginning to see a<br />new wave of suicide bombings outside the Middle East?<br /><br /><br />Every successful terror attack is considered a victory by the radical<br />Islamists. Everywhere Islam is expands there is regional conflict. Right<br />now, there are thousands of candidates for martyrdom lining up in training<br />camps in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Inside Europe, hundreds of<br />illegal mosques are preparing the next step of brain washing to lost young<br />men who cannot find a satisfying identity in the Occidental world. Israel<br />is much more prepared for this than the rest of the world will ever be. <br />Yes, there will be more suicide killings in Europe and the U.S. Sadly, this<br />is only the beginning.
