The Psychology of the Suicide Bomber

I was reading an interesting article on suicide bombers and why they do it. I think James Hamilton gets to the heart of the problem here:

In the case of suicide bombing, we are looking at a combination of ideology, youth and reward:

1. The comparative dehumanisation of the enemy - Jew or infidel, to the point where their continued existence is of relatively little importance and a source of significant antagonism.
2. The difficulty of truly comprehending one's own death, and the reality of the death/injury of the bystanders who will be harmed - to say nothing of the pain they, their friends, their relatives, other witnesses, will endure. Awareness of these things is muffled during adolescence and early adulthood, which is demonstrated in reckless, inconsiderate behaviour.
3. The prospect of martyr status on earth and sainthood in Paradise, genuinely held and believed in.

Two principles can be derived from this:

1. The specific context in which the suicide bomber acts is created by someone - a leader- within the bomber's own community - it does not emerge automatically from outside forces - it has to be deliberately created.
2. The politico-religious context that is presented to the suicide bomber and used to motivate them is different from the context that the leaders operate within. The bombers see themselves as martyrs to a cause: the leaders see them, in part, as props to their power. Were it the same context, it would be the leaders themselves who would carry out suicide bombings. But this is not the case.

So how do you stop it? Start by taking out the leaders and enablers. The second and harder part is changing the culture. Well, killing and imprisoning the leaders is a start.

Hat tip: Drink-soaked Trotskyite Popinjays for WAR