Studies done on stereotyping suicide bombers

[Realitycheck]

I was a bit surprised to find that the typical suicide bomber in Iraq is not a born and bred, down-and-out Iraqi youngster with nothing left but to take out their frustration on the current system. Rather, they are pawns in an organized recruiting system involving young Sunnis from Saudi Arabia and North Africa, not necessarily on their last legs, but social outcasts coming from large families where they want to make their mark on the world. Kind of interesting to see that they know about this operations center in Syria. It would seem that if we know this much about the system, then fellow Moslem nations should be doing more to stop it, especially Saudi Arabia. This is in their best interests. I have always wondered why Moslem nations are not better at self-policing this type of activity, but given history, in general, I suppose it's not hard to see why it is not exactly a well-oiled machine of fairness and justice.

 

"Iraqis are religiously and socially opposed to suicide, requiring al-Qaida to recruit foreigners to carry out their terror. Approximately 90 percent of the suicide attacks in Iraq are carried out by foreigners," he said.

 

An al-Qaida cell decides it needs two suicide bombers. It puts in an order which is funded by money made through racketeering, extortion and kidnapping. That request goes to Damascus, Syria, and to the facilitators and recruiters training young men in North Africa and Saudi Arabia. Three months later, the bomber is delivered, military investigators and officials say.

 

The most appalling part is when you see the means by which Al Qaeda really makes its money. It's kind of eye-opening to see just how evil it really is, if the above is true.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080315/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_al_qaida_s_fighters

[Pangloss]

There's also a Shiite side to the "argument", which presumably gets its recruits from Iran. But yes, I've seen a couple documentaries on this and they seem to focus on recruiting poor youths with few prospects for the future. It's pretty sad. Some of them do their best to police it, as you say, but it's a tough job -- we can't even fully police it ourselves, with all our resources.

 

I think you also raise a good point about Iraqis not being prone to that sort of thing by nature. It's a wealthier country than many of its neighbors, even in its current mess, and it has a strong national identity in spite of the religious rifts. This is one of the underlying reasons why I think they have a chance (regardless of whether we stay or not; that's another subject). If they're really, really lucky, and with a lot of serious freaking hard work, they could pull it off.

[Realitycheck]

This little detail about Al Qaeda's fundraising activities really seems to set them apart from many of the other terrorist groups in the region. While you have Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. and their general anti-Jewish hate, they are supposed to have a core belief system, they are supposed to be "pure" and God-filled and sticking to their own rules. Whether or not they actually are is another issue. I have never heard of this claim that Al Qaeda makes most of its money through "racketeering, extortion and kidnapping". This sounds a bit far-fetched. I don't see any organization lasting indefinitely without adhering to certain moral principles which humanity tends to impose on itself, even if it is extremist militant Islam. You just can't kidnap people indefinitely as a general back-door job description.

[ecoli]

This little detail about Al Qaeda's fundraising activities really seems to set them apart from many of the other terrorist groups in the region. While you have Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. and their general anti-Jewish hate, they are supposed to have a core belief system, they are supposed to be "pure" and God-filled and sticking to their own rules. Whether or not they actually are is another issue. I have never heard of this claim that Al Qaeda makes most of its money through "racketeering, extortion and kidnapping". This sounds a bit far-fetched. I don't see any organization lasting indefinitely without adhering to certain moral principles which humanity tends to impose on itself, even if it is extremist militant Islam. You just can't kidnap people indefinitely as a general back-door job description.

 

you don't have to tell new recruits that this is how you raise funds either. Also, don't some of them get state sponsorship through oil money?