posted 12-08-2005 09:29 PM         

September 12, 2005

The psychology behind suicide bombings
By Pierre Rehov, French Documentary Filmmaker

On July 15, MSNBC's "Connected" program discussed the 7/7 London
attacks. One of the guests was Pierre Rehov, a French filmmaker who
has filmed six documentaries on the intifada by going undercover in
the Palestinian areas.

Pierre's upcoming film, "Suicide Killers," is based on interviews
that he conducted with the families of suicide bombers and would-be
bombers in an attempt to find out why they do it. Pierre agreed to a
request for a Q&A interview here about his work on the new film.
Many thanks to Dean Draznin and Arlyn Riskind for helping to arrange
this special interview.

What inspired you to produce "Suicide Killers," your seventh film?

I started working with victims of suicide attacks to make a film on
PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) when I became fascinated with
the personalities of those who had committed those crimes, as they
were described again and again by their victims. Especially the fact
that suicide bombers are all smiling one second before they blow
themselves up.

Why is this film especially important?

People don't understand the devastating culture behind this
unbelievable phenomenon. My film is not politically correct because
it addresses the real problem-showing the real face of Islam. It
points the finger against a culture of hatred in which the
uneducated are brainwashed to a level where their only solution in
life becomes to kill themselves and kill others in the name of a God
whose word, as transmitted by other men, has became their only
certitude.

What insights did you gain from making this film? What do you know
that other experts do not know?

I came to the conclusion that we are facing a neurosis at the level
of an entire civilization. Most neuroses have in common a dramatic
event, generally linked to an unacceptable sexual behavior. In this
case, we are talking of kids living all their lives in pure
frustration, with no opportunity to experience sex, love, tenderness
or even understanding from the opposite sex. The separation between
men and women in Islam is absolute. So is contempt toward women, who
are totally dominated by men. This leads to a situation of pure
anxiety, in which normal behavior is not possible. It is no
coincidence that suicide killers are mostly young men dominated
subconsciously by an overwhelming libido that they not only cannot
satisfy but are afraid of, as if it is the work of the devil. Since
Islam describes heaven as a place where everything on earth will
finally be allowed, and promises 72 virgins to those frustrated
kids, killing others and killing themselves to reach this redemption!
becomes their only solution.

What was it like to interview would-be suicide bombers, their
families and survivors of suicide bombings?

It was a fascinating and a terrifying experience. You are dealing
with seemingly normal people with very nice manners who have their
own logic, which to a certain extent can make sense since they are
so convinced that what they say is true. It is like dealing with
pure craziness, like interviewing people in an asylum, since what
they say, is for them, the absolute truth. I hear a mother saying
"Thank God, my son is dead." Her son had became a shaheed, a martyr,
which for her was a greater source of pride than if he had became an
engineer, a doctor or a winner of the Nobel Prize. This system of
values works completely backwards since their interpretation of
Islam worships death much more than life. You are facing people
whose only dream, only achievement is to fulfill what they believe
to be their destiny, namely to be a shaheed or the family of a
shaheed.

They don't see the innocent being killed, they only see the impure
that they have to destroy.

You say suicide bombers experience a moment of absolute power,
beyond punishment. Is death the ultimate power?

Not death as an end, but death as a door open to the after life.
They are seeking the reward that God has promised them. They work
for God, the ultimate authority, above all human laws. They
therefore experience this single delusional second of absolute
power, where nothing bad can ever happen to them, since they become
God's sword.

Is there a suicide bomber personality profile? Describe the psychopathology.

Generally kids between 15 and 25 bearing a lot of complexes,
generally inferiority complexes. They must have been fed with
religion. They usually have a lack of developed personality. Usually
they are impressionable idealists. In the western world they would
easily have become drug addicts, but not criminals. Interestingly,
they are not criminals since they don't see good and evil the same
way that we do. If they had been raised in an Occidental culture,
they would have hated violence. But they constantly battle against
their own death anxiety. The only solution to this deep-seated
pathology is to be willing to die and be rewarded in the after life
in Paradise.

Are suicide bombers principally motivated by religious conviction?

Yes, it is their only conviction. They don't act to gain a territory
or to find freedom or even dignity. They only follow Allah, the
supreme judge, and what He tells them to do.

Do all Muslims interpret jihad and martyrdom in the same way?

All Muslim believers believe that, ultimately, Islam will prevail on
earth. They believe this is the only true religion and their is no
room, in their mind, for interpret ation. The main difference
between moderate Muslims and extremists is that moderate Muslims
don't think they will see the absolute victory of Islam during their
life time, therefore they respect other beliefs. The extremists
believe that the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Islam and ruling the
entire world as described in the Koran, is for today. Each victory
of Bin Laden convinces 20 million moderate Muslims to become
extremists.

Describe the culture that manufactures suicide bombers.

Oppression, lack of freedom, brain washing, organized poverty,
placing God in charge of daily life, total separation between men
and women, forbidding sex, giving women no power whatsoever, and
placing men in charge of family honor, which is mainly connected to
their women's behavior.

What socio-economic forces support the perpetuation of suicide bombings?

Muslim charity is usually a cover for supporting terrorist
organizations. But one has also to look at countries like Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are also supporting the same
organizations through different networks. The ironic thing in the
case of Palestinian suicide bombers is that most of the money comes
through financial support from the Occidental world, donated to a
culture that utterly hates and rejects the West (mainly symbolized
by Israel).

Is there a financial support network for the families of the suicide
bombers? If so, who is paying them and how does that affect the
decision?

There used to be a financial incentive in the days of Saddam Hussein
($25,000 per family) and Yasser Arafat (smaller amounts), but these
days are gone. It is a mistake to believe that these families would
sacrifice their children for money. Although, the children
themselves who are very attached to their families, might find in
this financial support another reason to become suicide bombers. It
is like buying a life insurance policy and then committing suicide.

Why are so many suicide bombers young men?

As discussed above , libido is paramount. Also ego, because this is
a sure way to become a hero. The shaheeds are the cowboys or the
firemen of Islam. Shaheed is a positively reinforced value in this
culture. And what kid has never dreamed of becoming a cowboy or a
fireman?

What role does the U.N. play in the terrorist equation?

The UN is in the hands of Arab countries and third world or
ex-communists countries. Their hands are tied. The UN has condemned
Israel more than any other country in the world, including the
regime of Castro, Idi Amin or Kaddahfi.

By behaving this way, the UN leaves a door open by not openly
condemning terrorist organizations. In addition, through UNRWA, the
UN is directly tied to terror organizations such as Hamas,
representing 65 percent of their apparatus in the so-called
Palestinian refugee camps. As a support to Arab countries, the UN
has maintained Palestinians in camps with the hope to "return" into
Israel for more than 50 years, therefore making it impossible to
settle those populations, which still live in deplorable conditions.
Four-hundred million dollars are spent every year, mainly financed
by U.S. taxes, to support 23,000 employees of UNRWA, many of whom
belong to terrorist organizations (see Congressman Eric Cantor on
this subject, and in my film "Hostages of Hatred").

You say that a suicide bomber is a 'stupid bomb and a smart bomb'
simultaneously. Explain what you mean.

Unlike an electronic device, a suicide killer has until the last
second the capacity to change his mind. In reality, he is nothing
but a platform representing interests which are not his, but he
doesn't know it.

How can we put an end to the madness of suicide bombings and
terrorism in general?

Stop being politically correct and stop believing that this culture
is a victim of ours. Radical Islamism today is nothing but a new
form of Nazism. Nobody was trying to justify or excuse Hitler in the
1930s. We had to defeat him in order to make peace one day with the
German peo ple.

Are these men traveling outside their native areas in large numbers?
Based on your research, would you predict that we are beginning to
see a new wave of suicide bombings outside the Middle East?

posted 12-09-2005 09:59 PM         

What I haven't figured out is what are the female suicide bombers promised for their sacrifice?