# Musings about suicide bombers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2001, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019 "2001-09-21T14:34:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019/1 "2001-09-21T14:34:45Z")
I wonder if anyone has studied, or knows, what (if anything) separates suicide bombers from the rest of the population. Obviously they hate their intended targets (generally Israel or the US). But a lot of people hate other people. Few are willing to die in order to kill as many as possible. Do these people hate more than their fellows? Are they more religious than others (thus less concerned about death)? The little I’ve read about their lifestyles in the US does not give me the impression that these particular suicide bombers were particularly devout. I wonder how often it is that a suicide bomber “chickens out” of his mission. Do the terrorist commanders have some means of ensuring that this doesn’t happen? I would imagine if I was a terrorist leader sending a terrorist to live undercover in the target country for an extended period of time, I would worry that the guy might come to empathize with his intended victims, or at least to be influenced by their culture. Or at least to decide that maybe he would rather live after all. Do the families of the suicide bombers know of their mission? Or do they hear the news and discover that “hey, that was my husband/father”? (Did the FBI immediately grab all the family members?) How do they tend to view their family member’s mission? Are all suicide bombers volunteers? Or do they take the assignments from their commanders as ordered? ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019/2 "2001-09-21T16:46:29Z")
I think they have enough people that believe they are doings god’s work, and fighting a just “war”. Also, these suicide bombers’ families are well kept after they die. As I understand it, that is fairly accurate. We just cannot possibly comprehend the level of belief they have that they are going to be heros in the afterlife… … and leaving behind families that are taken care of, and becoming a martyr in their own cultures…etc. We cannot appreciate this lunatic fringe devotion completely, but we know throughout history that religious beliefs do facilitate martyrdom. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019/3 "2001-09-21T17:22:34Z")
I saw a picture once that will haunt me to the end of my days. It was of the two terrorist bombers that blew up a tourist bus in Egypt a few years back. Post explosion, the two upper torsos of the bombers were pulled next to each other for the picture. Both had apparently had explosives strapped to their chests or abdomens. It wasn’t all the little cuts over evey part of their remains or the hollow glassy looks on their faces that freaked me out. It was the smile both were still wearing, left over from the moment they knew they were about to die. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019/4 "2001-09-21T18:09:19Z")
What I am about to relate is something I recall from a recent snippet on a news show in the last few days. Unfortunately my memory isn’t perfect nor do I remember which news show or who it was that was talking since they all seem to have blurred together. In short, take this with a grain of salt. The guy I saw was saying how American law enforcement agencies would have to re-work their profiles of suicide bombers. Prior to the WTC attack their profile of a suicide bomber was a young, uneducated, most likely poor, disaffected male. It was this type of person they felt was most susceptible to the ‘brainwashing’ (my words, not the speaker’s but I am not sure how else to put it). They also felt that a suicide bomber had to be kept close watch over with the idea being that they needed fairly constant pressure and oversight to motivate them right up to the attack that would take their lives. With the WTC attacks they are now rethinking that profile. Here we have men who had families (in some cases) and were reasonably well educated (at least educated enough to get through flight school). They were also out of sight and out of control of overseers for months while they prepared their attacks. > [@](#): > > Do the families of the suicide bombers know of their mission? Or do they hear the news and discover that “hey, that was my husband/father”? I saw an interview (very brief) with the father of one of the suspected terrorists. The father is Egyptian and is an attorney there and vehemently rejected (and that is putting it lightly…he was _very_ upset) the accusation that his son had something to do with these attacks. While this doesn’t necessarily speak to all who engage in this behavior it is anecdotal evidence that the families do not necessarily know what these men are up to nor do they necessarily agree with their son’s (in this case) actions. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019/5 "2001-09-21T20:12:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Do the families of the suicide bombers know of their mission? Or do they hear the news and discover that “hey, that was my husband/father”? (Did the FBI immediately grab all the family members?) How do they tend to view their family member’s mission? > > Are all suicide bombers volunteers? Or do they take the assignments from their commanders as ordered? From a CNN online story that I do not currently have a link for: Recruits, if the are to be used as suicide bombers, are specifically trained for the task. I got the impression that they are volunteers. They may wait weeks, months, or years before they are selected for a specific mission. I got the impression that the mission itself is assigned and not picked by the bomber. Once selected for a specific mission the bomber is kept in isolation for security and secrecy until he is sent to his target. Once the mission is complete the family is notified (and often throws a celebratory party). The family is well rewarded by the terrorist organization. The article followed a suicide bomber who killed about 20 people in Israel. His father was interviewed as he was preparing the post mission celebration. He was very proud of his son because, acording to him, death for Allah was the highest possible use of life and he hoped his other sons would follow in their brother’s foosteps. Chilling. ---
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019/6 "2001-09-25T15:14:33Z")
Interesting suggestion (from the [NY Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/25/national/25INQU.html)) > [@](#): > > A senior law enforcement official said some investigators had theorized that the hijackers were able to keep the plan secret by letting only one member of each team know that the planes would be crashed into buildings. The others, the official said, might have believed that the jets would be landed at an airport where demands would be made. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019/7 "2001-09-25T15:20:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Interesting suggestion (from the NY Times) > > ## quote: > > ## A senior law enforcement official said some investigators had theorized that the hijackers were able to keep the plan secret by letting only one member of each team know that the planes would be crashed into buildings. The others, the official said, might have believed that the jets would be landed at an airport where demands would be made. This was my thought, immediately after the bombings. But it seems more likely that _two_ of the team would be the minimum to know – you wouldn’t want to get as far as being in charge of the plane with the only person knowingh the mission dead or unconscious. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019/8 "2001-09-25T16:37:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Whack-a-Mole \* > \*\*They also felt that a suicide bomber had to be kept close watch over with the idea being that they needed fairly constant pressure and oversight to motivate them right up to the attack that would take their lives. > > With the WTC attacks they are now rethinking that profile. Here we have men who had families (in some cases) and were reasonably well educated (at least educated enough to get through flight school). They were also out of sight and out of control of overseers for months while they prepared their attacks. > > \*\* This is the very thing that’s so confusing to me about the whole thing. It’s one thing to be in a somewhat isolated country and be brainwashed about someplace else (in this instance, America). But these guys lived here for several months/years at a time and were getting a pretty good dose of how great the US is. You’d think at some point these guys would look around and say “Gee, this well-built highway system, ample amounts of food, sturdy buildings, large-screen televisions, and even the women daring to show their faces outside of their house really ain’t so bad!” :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019/9 "2001-09-25T19:13:44Z")
Or they could think “This constant bulldozing of trees, gluttony, conspicuous wealth, materialism, and whorish display by women only proves what I was told about America!” There is more than one way to view any situation. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019/10 "2001-09-25T19:19:58Z")
**lieu** said: > [@](#): > > I saw a picture once that will haunt me to the end of my days. It was of the two terrorist bombers that blew up a tourist bus in Egypt a few years back. I happened to mention this to a friend this weekend and had to admit to having no proof that this photo actually exists. Not to call you out, **lieu** , but do you or anyone else have a link or a cite for the picture in question? Sorry for the slight hijack. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019/11 "2001-09-26T18:57:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by stolichnaya \* > \*\ ***lieu** said: > > > [@](#): > > > > I saw a picture once that will haunt me to the end of my days. It was of the two terrorist bombers that blew up a tourist bus in Egypt a few years back. > > I happened to mention this to a friend this weekend and had to admit to having no proof that this photo actually exists. Not to call you out, **lieu** , but do you or anyone else have a link or a cite for the picture in question? Sorry for the slight hijack. \*\* I’m going to include the rest of my original comment: Post explosion, the two upper torsos of the bombers were pulled next to each other for the picture. Both had apparently had explosives strapped to their chests or abdomens. It wasn’t all the little cuts over evey part of their remains or the hollow glassy looks on their faces that freaked me out. It was the smile both were still wearing, left over from the moment they knew they were about to die. Can somebody help me with this? I’d like to give stolichnaya more information on this but I can’t for the life of me remember where I saw this picture. Did anyone else see this in Time or some other publication? It was awhile back, probably right after the bombing of the tour bus occurred. ---
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musings-about-suicide-bombers/83019/12 "2001-09-28T17:33:56Z")
[of possible interest](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37629-2001Sep27.html)