CHAPTER 2
Killing In The Name Of God:
Osama Bin Laden And Al Qaeda
Jerrold M. Post
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What manner of men are these, living in American society, for years
in some cases, aiming to kill thousands while dying in the process? Surely,
one would think, they must be crazed psychotics. No normal person could
do such a thing. But, in fact, the al Qaeda terrorists were psychologically
“normal.” By no means were they psychologically disturbed. Indeed,
terrorist groups expel emotionally disturbed individuals—they are a
security risk.
In many ways, these new terrorists shatter the profile of suicidal
terrorists developed in Israel. Seventeen to twenty-two in age, uneducated,
unemployed, unmarried, the Palestinian suicide bombers were dispirited
unformed youth, looking forward to a bleak future, when they were
recruited, sometimes only hours before the bombing. The group members
psychologically manipulated the new recruits, persuading them,
psychologically manipulating them, “brainwashing” them to believe that
by carrying out a suicide bombing, they would find an honored place in the
corridor of martyrs, and their lives would be meaningful; moreover, their
parents would win status and would be financially rewarded. From the
time they were recruited, the group members never left their sides, leaving
them no opportunity of backing down from their fatal choice.
The values communicated to the recruits by the commanders are
revealed in their answers to questions posed in a series of interviews of 35
incarcerated Middle Eastern terrorists, who agreed to be interviewed in
Israeli and Palestinian prisons. Twenty of the terrorists belonged to radical
Islamic terrorist groups—Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad. The
psychologically oriented interviews attempted to understand their life
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