Translate

Search This Blog

Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Terrorist Mind: An Update



This mystery of the mind became an issue again in recent weeks as a suicide bomber in Afghanistan — a double agent — killed seven CIA officers; a man plowed a truck full of explosives into a crowded playground in Pakistan, and a Nigerian man tried to blow himself up on a plane bound for Detroit on Christmas Day. Until recently, the psychology of terrorism had been largely theoretical. Finding actual subjects to study was daunting. But access to terrorists has increased and a nascent science is taking shape. More former terrorists are speaking publicly about their experiences. Tens of thousands of terrorists are in “de-radicalization” programs around the globe, and they are being interviewed, counseled and subjected to psychological testing, offering the chance to collect real data on the subject. Terrorist propaganda has flooded the Internet and the thinking of sympathizers is widely available. There are entire cable television channels operated by extremists, and researchers have access to the writings and “farewell tapes” of the growing number of suicide bombers as well as the transcripts of terrorism trials. The new research has its limits. The accounts of the extremists — generally militant Islamists — are difficult to verify. And researchers often differ over the path to radicalization. Some boil it down to religion, others to politics and power, others to an array of psychological and social influences. But even if the motivations for terror can be wildly idiosyncratic, a range of patterns have been identified. 1. THE PATH TO VIOLENCE Despite the lack of a single terrorist profile, researchers have largely agreed on the risk factors for involvement. They include what Jerrold M. Post, a professor of psychiatry, political psychology and international affairs at George Washington University, calls “generational transmission” of extremist beliefs, which begins early in life; a strong sense of victimization and alienation; the belief that moral violations by the enemy justify violence in pursuit of a “higher moral condition;” the belief that the terrorists’ ethnic, religious or nationalist group is special and in danger of extinction, and that they lack the political power to effect change without violence. Research has also shown that some terrorists have a criminal mentality and had previous lives as criminals. Paradoxically, anxiety about death plays a significant role in the indoctrination of terrorists and suicide bombers — unconscious fear of mortality, of leaving no legacy, according to new research. Many researchers agree that while there is rarely a moment of epiphany, there is typically a trigger of some kind to accelerate radicalization — for example, the politically related killing of a friend or relative. Ervin Staub, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Massachusetts who is finishing a book on what drives terrorism and conflict, has identified three types of terrorists. “Idealists” identify with the suffering of some group. “Respondents” react to the experience of their own group. (Perhaps they were raised in a refugee camp or saw relatives killed; they may also be responding to unrelated individual trauma, like child abuse.) Finally, “lost souls” are adrift, isolated and perhaps ostracized, and find purpose with a radical group. Dr. Post said the lost souls are “ripe for the plucking” by recruiters. Clark McCauley, a professor of psychology at Bryn Mawr College, sees four general trajectories: “revolutionaries,” who are involved in the same cause over time; “wanderers,” who are involved with one extremist group after another, whatever their causes; “converts,” who suddenly break with their past to join an extreme movement; and “compliants,” whose involvement occurs through persuasion by friends, relatives and lovers. 2. LIFE IN THE GROUP The collective, not the individual, identity has drawn the most attention in recent years. Only in rare cases, like those of the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, and the Washington sniper, John Allen Muhammad, have individuals acted on their own, with no connection to a group. (The Unabomber was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, while most terrorist groups weed out the mentally unstable, experts say; they even prefer to select those with higher status for the suicide missions. in the belief that sending those with the most to lose will raise the credibility of their cause.) Most researchers agree that justification for extremist action, whether through religious or secular doctrine, is either developed or greatly intensified by group dynamics. The Internet has come to play a huge role in increasing the number of jihadi groups, many of them offshoots of larger networks or inspired by Al-Qaeda. Dr. Post said the Internet has given rise to what he calls a “virtual community of hatred.”

CIA base attacker was Hakimullah Mehsud’s companion: video



A Jordanian who blew himself up in Afghanistan, killing seven CIA agents and his Jordanian handler, said in a video broadcast on Saturday the act he was planning was for revenge. "We tell our emir Baitullah Mehsud we will never forget his blood. It is up to us to avenge him in and outside America," Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi said about a Taliban leader killed in a US attack in August. "This is a message to the enemies of the (Muslim) nation -- the CIA and Jordanian intelligence services," said the bearded man in military uniform, identified by Al-Jazeera television as Balawi. A relative later confirmed in Jordan that the man shown in the video was indeed Balawi -- a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who moved with his family to Jordan after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. According to the monitoring group IntelCenter the man sitting next to Balawi is Hakimullah Mehsud, who succeeded Beitulah Mehsud as head of the Pakistan Taliban. Balawi blew himself up at a US military base in Khost, near the Pakistani border on December 30, killing seven CIA agents and his Jordanian handler, a top intelligence officer and member of the royal family. Jihadist websites have identified Balawi as a double agent who duped Western intelligence services for months before turning on his handlers. But a senior Jordanian official told on Wednesday that "Jordan has benefited since a year ago from anti-terrorist information provided by Humam Khalil al-Balawi and shared them with other (intelligence) services as part of the fight against terrorism. "We will never forget that he (Mehsud) said Sheikh Osama bin Laden was not on our soil (Pakistan) but that if he should come we would protect him," the man said. "He kept his promise and paid for it with his life," he added about Mehsud, the Pakistan Taliban chief killed in US drone attacks last August. Al-Jazeera reported that the video shows Balawi training at a shooting range, but did not broadcast that part of the footage. On Thursday, Islamist websites quoted the head of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, as saying the bomber left a will saying the Khost attack was revenge for "our righteous martyrs" and named several top militants killed in drone attacks in Pakistan.The slain militant masterminds named in the will included Mehsud, who was blamed for a wave of deadly attacks, notably the December 2007 killing of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Also named was Abu Saleh al-Somali, described as part of Al-Qaeda's core leadership and responsible for plotting attacks in Europe and the United States. He was killed in a drone strike near the Afghan border last month. The suicide attack at a US military base near the Pakistani border on December 30 was the deadliest attack against the Central Intelligence Agency since 1983. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh acknowledged that Amman had a counter-terrorism role in Afghanistan, during a news conference in Washington on Friday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

6.5-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Northern California



A magnitude-6.5 earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California Saturday afternoon, damaging buildings, knocking out power in several coastal communities and leaving a trail of broken windows and dishes south of the Oregon border. The powerful quake hit at about 4:27 p.m. PST about 22 miles from Ferndale, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Residents of an apartment building in Eureka were evacuated, and an office building and two other commercial structures were declared unsafe for occupancy, according to Humboldt County spokesman Phil Smith-Hanes. "Our initial reports were that, though this was a pretty decent quake, we survived it well," Smith-Hanes said, adding that damage assessents would continue on Sunday across the county.

Togo 'will play' in Angola cup




Togo's national football team is reported to have decided to play in the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, despite the country's government calling them home following a deadly attack on the team bus. Two of Togo's players said on Sunday that the team had held a meeting a which it had been decided they would stay to pay tribute to the assistant coach, team spokesman and a bus driver who were killed in the shooting. "The entire delegation just met and, after all, we'll be on the pitch Monday to play against Ghana," Alaixys Romao, a Togo midfielder, was quoted as telling France's L'Equipe newspaper. "Our government doesn't necessarily agree with us but we are determined to play in this competition. The decision was taken unanimously." A Togolese government minister said on Saturday that the team would return home because of the "dramatic situation" in Angola's Cabinda province, where a low-level separatist conflict has been ongoing for three decades.