The Personalities of the Terrorists
Since the London bombings I've been asked about the personalities of the terrorists. What are they like? Why did they do it? Of course I don't know the details; but I do know this: it's likely that their personalities are not much different from other peoples; more important, their personalities per se are probably more or less irrelevant to their motivation for these terrible acts.
Since 9/11 we've come to realize that forces external to personality have been at play in these disasters. In the case of the 9/11 terrorists, we found men in their 20’s, recruited to do the deed on the basis of a purported commitment to Islam, the romance of it, and the honor they both bring to their families and supposedly find in heaven after their deaths. These were middle class kids, some upper-middle, not poor people. Now, in the latest round, we have four boys from a poor city in northern England, apparently recruited by a presumed mastermind, respected and honored for their commitment, probably for the first time in their lives, then no doubt sent to a madras for further ideological grounding, and finally to their deaths in the subways. It seems likely that their poverty and, as they see it, the racism of white Christian Englishmen had produced a deep anger and desire to get even, which was probably exploited by their masters, who used it to fuel the religious fervor. A glorious death which takes out the oppressor: what could more honorable?
However misguided, their positioning in the political system leaves young adults vulnerable to such exploitation. Look at Chechnya; look at Kashmir; look at Israel/Palestine; look at Iraq. The list goes on and on. As long as these men and women perceive themselves to be demeaned and exploited, they will be vulnerable to anyone who promises some combination of freedom, respect, independence, and power. In their minds, bombs simply break chains.
Maybe there are personality variables that predispose to suicidal violence in the name of God. But unlike the domestic pathological personalities that we've seen run amok here, the psychotics, the eruptive stress disorders, and the rest of the usual psychiatric suspects, the psychopathology of the international terrorists isn't of primary importance.
The fact that they're not necessarily troubled, either by their own deaths or the fate of innocents in their line of fire, should make us afraid. Beyond that it should make us think about the conditions that keep these young people committed to their murderous cause