Female suicide bombers

Tuesday, March 4

Over the past year, the publicly available data on Iraqi suicide bombers has shown that the involvement of women has been responsible for the persistently high level of such attacks. RAND research suggests that there are several psychological motivators that are particularly relevant in Iraq:

• Maternal love and loss. A cathartic desire for revenge appears to have motivated several mothers, who had lost children to sectarian violence, to become suicide bombers. The especially high value assigned to sons in Iraqi culture is a particularly strong driver; losing a beloved son appears to have been a common denominator among many of the attackers who were mothers.
• Xenophobia and nationalism. During the rule of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, many women were given light arms training to protect their families against the threat of an Iranian invasion -- particularly during the nearly decade-long Iran-Iraq war (1980-88). Today, many of these women have assumed responsibility for protecting their families (ie after a husband dies or is otherwise absent) against sectarian attacks and the perceived threat posed by the presence of foreign troops. Some of these women are also die-hard Iraqi nationalists.
• 'Cleansing' exercise. Suicide terrorism as an act of culturally motivated desperation also applies to Iraq's women. Like many Muslim women, Iraqi females guard their chastity. When this chastity is perceived to have been blotched by sinful acts, women can be manipulated to perceive violence as a way to 'free' or cleanse themselves of such transgressions -- thus, suicide becomes an act of restitution.
• Exploitation. The bombing conducted last month by two women with Down's Syndrome involved a more simple, and common, abuse of vulnerable women by terrorist groups.