July 14, 2002

Explaining the factors which lead to deep-rooted alienation in a person prompting him to take the path of self-destruction, Dr Khalid Sohail delves into the psychology of a terrorist who turns suicidal

Who are the people who get involved in terrorist attacks? Why would someone kill thousands of innocent people? What kind of personalities and philosophies do such people have? Since the events of September 11, 2001, terrorist activities have entered a new realm in today’s world, which demands our immediate review in the light of new political, economic and religious changes in the world.

Most people are still shocked to have found that the nineteen people who destroyed the Twin Towers and part of the Pentagon were middle class, educated and well-trained men. They had learned to fly airplanes at flight schools in different parts of the United States. The attack was planned with such secrecy using such unusual domestic “weapons” that all the intelligence agencies of the superpower could not have prevented the tragedy. Those hijackers were not uneducated, desperate and angry teenagers who tied some bombs to their bodies and entered a shopping mall to kill a handful of “enemies” as elsewhere. Those who knew these men perceived them as “normal” and “ordinary” and “average” and would never have thought them capable of performing such dastardly deeds.

To understand the psychology of these men, we need to emotionally distance ourselves and see their actions using a logical, rational and objective point of view. We need to consider many factors that could have played a role in the present tragedy, to ponder different pieces that link together to complete the puzzle. When I think of these “terrorists” and the puzzle they left behind for us to ponder, the following pieces come to mind.

The first is the psychology of these people who are willing to take the lives of innocent people voluntarily and without a stab of conscience. They include serial killers and mass murderers, people who have developed a personality where, because of past traumatic experiences, they have become so destructive and revengeful that they willingly kill strangers, people they have never met. While writing my book about Javed Iqbal, an accused serial killer of one hundred children in Pakistan, and researching world literature on the topic, I was shocked to discover that the highest numbers of serial killers and mass murderers in the last thirty years were found in the United States.

Elliot Leyton, in his book, Hunting humans, notes, “America produces proportionately more of these killers than any other nation on earth.” While these serial killers and mass murderers might have a personal, political and religious ideology, they are not members of any organized political or religious party and their activities are not part of any party’s agenda like today’s terrorists.

While reviewing the personalities of those serial killers and mass murderers, it became apparent to me that they belonged to two separate groups. The first are those men who grew up in very abusive homes and were violently treated by their families. Such people developed psychopathic personalities in their early years and were so angry and bitter at the whole wide world that at some stage of their lives they decided to take their “revenge” on innocent men and women.

On the other hand, the second group included those men who were from middle class, educated families who felt specifically angry with one particular religious, ethnic or gender group. Their violence was focused on that segment of society.

The second piece of the puzzle is the involvement with a political organization. Such a political organization might have national and/or religious motives. In the last few decades we have read about a number of groups worldwide who train men for “terrorist” attacks. Such groups have a very well organized hierarchy and pick very committed and dedicated teenagers or young adults, almost always males. Many of these young men are uneducated and poor. Many have been incarcerated in prisons of the enemy, or their relatives have been killed or badly hurt during violent confrontations in the past.

These teenagers and young men face death for their country or cause. Once ready, they are given a “mission” but in many cases most of the details are kept secret from the recruit. On a particular day, they are transported to the desired place and then ordered to perform their role. There is no turning back. Many become known as “suicide bombers”.

The third piece of the puzzle is the extreme religious belief system that becomes the very reason for their existence. They not only have a faith in a life after death but also believe that by killing their enemies, which in their eyes are “enemies of God”, they will go to heaven and be remembered as martyrs, as shaheeds. In many cases they volunteer their services in the Holy War but in some cases join a small group of religious extremists to become a part of their special mission.

It is important to understand that most religious communities whether Muslims, Jews, Christians or followers of other world religions, do not believe in killing innocent men and women. Some might believe in Crusades or Holy Wars or Jihads. It is important to differentiate between those soldiers who believe in fighting with the army of their enemies on the borders of their country to protect the sovereignty of their nation versus the “terrorists” who do not give a second thought to the moral decadence of killing innocent people.

The fourth piece of the puzzle is guerrilla warfare. Many “soldiers” go through rigorous training to face the most trying circumstances. They have dedicated their lives to the cause and are ready to die any time. By becoming a part of the guerrilla organization, they learn to access the artillery and ammunition of the enemy and then use it against them. In the past they had been part of ambush attacks, chiefly at night, and stole guns and even tanks from their enemies. In the modern world they have access to the universities and training camps of their enemies and learn to use military weapons of every description.

In the case of the nineteen hijackers, many of these pieces might fit easily together. Without having access to their personality profiles and family interviews, as one does in a psychiatric practice, one can only theorize about their motivations.

“Why do people resort to terrorist attacks?” is the question that has been preoccupying many minds in the last few days. My opinion is that when people feel weak, vulnerable and helpless while confronting a power far stronger, then they lash out in anger and zeal and resort to terrorist attacks. A terrorist symbolizes a contradiction, vulnerable yet strong at the same time. He wants to remain anonymous yet also remembered in the history of his community as a hero. He wants to die and yet also live forever. He is the most rational being in planning his attack and yet acts in the most irrational manner in being destructive to himself and others.

We have to see whether these nineteen men represent a larger group who think like them and have a similar psychology but who are not willing to risk their lives by going “all the way”. If we do not take them seriously, we may see the emergence of another group in the next few years that can plan and execute more terrorist attacks like the September 11 tragedy. The time has come for an international organization such as the United Nations to discover the whereabouts of these groups to protect innocent citizens of all countries.

The nineteen hijackers chose to make a statement. They want all of us to think seriously about the unresolved political conflicts of the modern world. It is quite possible that if those issues are not addressed in a fair and just way, the conflict between the East and the West, Muslim and non-Muslim worlds will continue. There will be ongoing tension and from time to time, outpourings of violence from both sides.

I believe that we need to transcend the psychology of revenge and retaliation and find ways of continually extending cooperation. We need to break down the walls of anger and resentment and bitterness through unselfish deeds and build bridges of understanding and compassion. Humanity is going through an adolescent turmoil. Like teenagers, we are struggling with our identity. We want to know who we are and where we belong.

Like troubled teens, we often get suicidal and homicidal. It is only in adolescence that human beings begin to develop the capacity to commit successful suicides. So far in the history of mankind we have not been able to kill the whole species. It is only in the last century since the development of nuclear weapons that we have attained the capacity to wipe out the whole of humanity from planet Earth. We have reached a stage where we can set our direction on the path of self-destruction and commit collective suicide or accept the challenges of adulthood and acknowledge that we are all children of Mother Earth and part of the human family.

Our need to mature is crucial, whereby we can transform our violent consciousness, whether expressed in national civil wars, religious holy wars, isolated terrorist attacks or guerrilla warfare, to peaceful consciousness. Such a transformation can happen with evolution, not revolution, with education, not preaching, in the social environment of supportive families and schools with positive role models, rather than confining men and women to army barracks.

Collectively we have to realize that when two thirds of the world’s people are poor and uneducated and sick, there cannot be much hope for happy and healthy communities worldwide. We also must respond to millions of refugees living in camps around the world, waiting for the promises made by the United Nations and the wealthy, advanced Western world to be fulfilled. We must all be shocked at the quarter of a million refugees in camps in Bangladesh waiting for the last thirty years to find a respectable place to live and work.

The time has come for everyone to do valuable soul-searching. Modern terrorists are the tip of the iceberg reflecting the underlying tensions between different communities and the unresolved conflicts between different parts of the world. We need to make a commitment to create communities where people can live peacefully and equally, irrespective of cultural or religious differences, otherwise we will continue down the path of holy and civil wars. We must insist that our leaders choose the right direction of peace, understanding, human rights and cooperation.

Excerpted with permission from
Dunyazad: dunya dunya dahshat hai
Compiled by Asif Farrukhi
Schehrezade, B-155, Block 5, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Karachi.
Email: schehersade@ahmedgraf.com
556pp. Rs250

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