Many experts have investigated what it is that turns people into suicide bombers and what is the difference between the organizers of terrorist attacks and their executors.
On the thirteenth of November 2015, in the evening when synchronized terrorist attacks were carried out in several locations in the capital of France, 130 people died. A few more deaths should be added to that balance: the deaths of four suicide bombers of the Islamic State.
Part of this horde that sowed death in Paris was, according to foreign media, also Salah Abdeslam, who, along with his brother Ibrahim, was supposed to be among those who died by blowing themselves up in a public place and taking a few more lives with them. However, Abdeslam survived that evening and is currently the most wanted man in Europe. As foreign media reported in the past few days, this young man decided at the last moment to abandon his plan to commit suicide and returned to Brussels, most likely because he was afraid.
What is it that makes Salah Abdeslam different from those who dared to end in such a horrible way?
There are several interpretations of the psychology of suicide bombers.
As pointed out by the Australian sociologist Riaz Hasan, "except for one demographic characteristic - the fact that most suicide bombers are young men", personality and religious beliefs, contrary to popular opinion, do not have to be a decisive factor in whether someone will become a suicide bomber. Anthropologist Scott Atran agrees and points out that terrorist attacks cannot be prevented by establishing a terrorist profile.
"They are essentially no different from others," he says, and says that the explanation for jihadist attacks should be sought in understanding the dynamics of the entire group, not in the psychology of the individual.
"The dynamics of a small group can encourage an individual to behave horribly even though he is a perfectly ordinary person."
Ariel Merari, a retired professor at Tel Aviv University, researched this question on a group of fifteen Palestinian terrorists who were arrested in 2002 before they could carry out suicide attacks. Merari himself and his colleagues were amazed that these people even agreed to talk to him, and thanks to this, science came to interesting data. Among other things, 53 percent of the respondents, Merari found, showed some of the typical symptoms of depression: melancholy, lack of energy and would cry very easily, while only 24 percent of the organizers of the attack showed these characteristics. In addition, 40 percent of those surveyed were potentially suicidal – moreover, one of them openly talked about cutting his veins after his father died. Interestingly, none of the organizers of the terrorist attack showed any suicidal thoughts.
The results of this research were published by Merari in the journal "Terrorism and Political Violence", and they confirmed the position of Adam Lankford, an expert on the criminal justice system, a professor at the University of Alabama and the author of "Human Killing Machines" and "The Myth of Martyrdom", in com emphasizes his position that suicide terrorists are not fearless warriors loyal to an ideology, but depressed and suicidal individuals.
However, not everyone agrees with these views. Moreover, Mia Blum from the Pennsylvania State University believes that the Western view of suicide should not be equated with the one that prevails in the Middle East.
"One should not confuse the opinion of suicide in the West with something that is a religious ceremony in the Middle East," says Blumova and reminds that on all the videos of such attacks it is noticeable that the terrorists are almost euphoric.
"They believe that, before the first drop of blood touches the ground, it will be with Allah," reminds Blumova.
On the other hand, Lanford associates precisely this euphoria with the characteristics of a suicidal person.
Bloom isn't the only one who disagreed with Lankford—Robert Pape of the University of Chicago notes that his research was conducted on a small sample.
“There are literally hundreds and hundreds of stories about religion being a strong factor, as well as revenge. To defend his thesis, Lanford would have to have at least a hundred more stories."
Source: National Geography
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