“The organizers of suicide attacks don’t want to jeopardize their missions by recruiting unreliable people. It may be that some psychologically unstable people want to become suicide bombers, but insurgent organizations strongly prefer their cannons fixed.” – Political Sociologist Robert Brym of the University of Toronto, in a paper published in Social Forces. Brym concluded in an extensive study of Palestinian suicide bombings that the bombers were not psychologically unstable and were often motivated by personal vengeance, not religious zeal. [source]
“In a paper to be published in Studies in Conflict on Terrorism this year, Araj concludes that harsh state repression “should not be perceived only as a reaction to suicide bombing” but “often precedes and is a major cause of suicide bombing.” “…
Yes, personal vengeance is a motivation for SOME suicide bombers, but I contend or even totally agree that state repression is the basic cause for suicide bombing. I’m not trying to rationalize suicide bombing, but in the case of Palestinians, a people at war, suffering from ALL types of repression, depression, and humiliation, suicide bombing, at times, is the only way out in the minds of those who carry out the attacks.. a form of resistance!
“Brym concluded in an extensive study of Palestinian suicide bombings that the bombers were not psychologically unstable and were often motivated by personal vengeance, not religious zeal.”… this reminds me of “Paradise Now,” a movie written and directed by Hany Abu-Asaad which incredibly portrays the psychological conflict a suicide bomber faces as he/she is about to carryout a suicide attack. No it’s not that these bombers are psychologically unstable, they are rather motivated by repression and humiliation they face on their own land..vengeance for their state of repression, which actually doesn’t even have to do with any religious zeal..
They may be motivated by personal vengeance but without cetrain religous convictions, they wouldnt go along with it.