What makes a suicide bomber bomb?

[Richard D]

A very detailed analysis of suicide bombers can be found at:

http://mitpress.mit.edu/journals/pdf/wash_27_3_67_0.pdf

Excerpts:

"The war in Iraq has energized so many disparate groups that
the jihadist network is better prepared than
ever to carry on without bin Laden."

In truth, suicide terrorists on the whole have no appreciable psychopathology and are often wholly committed to what they believe to be devout moral principles. A report on The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism used by the Central and Defense Intelligence Agencies (CIA and DIA) finds “no psychological attribute or personality distinctive of terrorists.”39 Recruits are generally well adjusted in their families and liked by peers and often more educated and economically better off than their surrounding population.

Overall, suicide terrorists exhibit no socially dysfunctional attributes (fatherless, friendless, jobless)
or suicidal symptoms. Inconsistent with economic theories of criminal behavior, they do not kill themselves simply out of hopelessness or a sense of having nothing to lose. Muslim clerics countenance killing oneself for martyrdom in the name of God but curse personal suicide.

“He who commits suicide kills himself for his own benefit,” warned Sheikh Yussuf Al-Qaradhawi (a spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood), but “he who commits martyrdom sacrifices himself for the sake of his religion and his nation. … he Mujahed is full of hope.”43 Another reason that personal despair or derangement may not be a significant factor in suicide terrorism is that the cultures of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia where it thrives tend to be less individualistic than our own. These cultures are more attuned to the environmental and organizational relationships that shape behavior and are less tolerant of individuals acting independently from a group context.44 Terrorists in these societies also would be more likely to be seeking a group, or collective, sense of belonging and justification for their actions.

[Debs]

1. I have an answer to that question

Like most answers it is no all inclusive, there are nutbags out there but I think they are the smallest of minorities. Google the words to Bruce Coburns song If I had a Rocket Launcher. It says it all. There are only so many attacks on a human beings dignity that can be taken before they snap... then they say fuck it, I am going to do something. I dont care what it costs I dont care if I die but by God someone is going to pay for the indignities against my person and my community. I think for the largest part THAT is what makes a suicide attack happen. No one straps on dynamite and blows up a pizzaria because they had a bad day.