THE PATH TO PARADISE: THE INNER WORLD OF SUICIDE BOMBERS AND THEIR DISPATCHERS

BY ANAT BERKO PRAEGER SECURITY INTERNATIONAL www.praeger.com

The Author, Anat Berko who is a LTC in the Israeli Defense Forces, also holds a Ph.D. in Criminology and is a research fellow at the International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism. Her background, her official position and even her gender gave her unusual access to the terrorists in Israeli prisons that she interviewed for her book. This book is probably one of the best I have seen on the subject since the terrorists she interviewed either were arrested prior to getting to their targets or changed their mind prior to blowing up their targets or who were the dispatchers who sent other suicide bombers. Radical Islamic suicide bombers believe that to commit suicide as a martyr for the sake of Allah is an honor granted by Allah and cannot be refused. Male suicide bombers are known as shaheed and female as shaheeda. However most of the terrorists Dr. Berko met with were in fact not overly religious and their original motivation for. She met with dispatchers who admitted to looking for recruits who were " desperate and sad". The dispatchers related that in most cases suicide bombers are not the young, uneducated, single individuals they were in the past, nor were they religious fanatics. Neither were the dispatchers who sent them. While religion is used as part of the preparation process, the original motivation may be nationalism, revenge, hatred for the Jews, loathing for the Western world, the reward to the family of the shaheed, the hero status of the shaheed as well as personal or family reasons. The author noted that none of the dispatchers nor their family members became suicide bombers. The reply of those she talked with was that the dispatchers had their job to do and the bombers had their job to do. It seemed that in fact the dispatchers seemed to be held in high regard in most cases. The use of propaganda and the demonization of the Jews as well as the power of the collective society over the individual's value plays a major part in the process of recruiting the bombers in their mission to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. The author was able to conduct a very extensive interview with Sheikh Yassin; the founder of Hamas prior to his death. She also interviewed and seemed to connect with many of the female terrorists in prison as well. While the females all touted the standard jihad verbiage, they all seemed to have their own " personal" story which they seemed to share as they "connected" with Dr. Berko. In the past some terrorist groups did not condone the use of female shaheeda, however that has now changed. It is ironic that in a society where the role of women is strictly controlled, even the role they play as terrorists are equally strictly controlled. The terrorists of course have come to realize the psychological impact that female suicide bombers bring as well as the death and destruction. One of the common threads Dr. Berko finds is the issue of the terrorists' connection with their mothers and their fathers or the lack of a connection with a particular parent. Another theme she hears is the terrorists tale of their feelings toward Jews which they discovered after dealing with the guards who apparently treat them as human beings and their lack of any real interaction with Jews prior to their incarceration. Dr. Berko wonders if they are saying this to her since they think it may be what she wants to hear. She also has the opportunity to met with some teen age terrorists as well as the parent of a shaheeda.

Email dated 12.9.2007 from Mr. Grollman Elliott E.

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