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American Morning
Interview of Lisa Beyer, Time Magazine
Aired December 05, 2001 - 08:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: In the world other major troubled spot, the Middle East, another suicide bombing this morning. Police say the bomber killed himself and injured six other people outside a Jerusalem hotel. No one yet has claimed responsibility. But the Islamic militant group Hamas did claim responsibility for suicide bombings in Israel over this past weekend. Now Hamas has actually released a videotape showing one of its bombers saying good-bye.
So what would make anyone strap explosives to his body and become a human bomb or fly a plane into a building and why is there an arsenal of believers. Joining me right now is Lisa Beyer, World Editor for "Time Magazine" who has tried to look inside the mind of a suicide bomber. Welcome. Good to have you back.
LISA BEYER, "TIME MAGAZINE": Thank you.
ZAHN: I guess what is so difficult for all of us to understand as westerners ...
BEYER: Right.
ZAHN: ... is the stature these bombers gain in their individual communities. Talk a little bit about that this morning.
BEYER: They're heroes. You can go into the homes of Palestinian families in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and you will see posters of suicide bombers who are called martyrs. They're considered to be individuals who died in a glorious cause by many Palestinians. They're holy fighters who died in a holy war and you will see rallies in which people will hold up their pictures almost like rock stars.
ZAHN: And the parents actually encourage their young sons to do this?
BEYER: Well I don't know of any case where a family has actually encouraged a son, but you will often find families who are -- who are not sad, who will actually for the funeral be rather celebratory, that their son has done something so grand and glorious as this and what's more that their son is now in heaven -- and in a very special heaven. According to Islamic scripture, there's a special heaven that is reserved for martyrs who die in holy wars and among families who would support suicide bombings, again you will often find that they're -- that they're not particularly sad about it. ZAHN: What I want to come back to now is this video that we have seen now -- some of us in the news room several times, but I think it's really worth sharing with our audience again. And this was the good-bye message from one of the bombers who blew up a bus in Israel over the weekend. If we can roll that now, Lisa just once again, give us some insights into what we're watching here.
BEYER: Well I think the purpose of these videos is twofold. First of all you want to give the bomber a reward. He's ending his life after all, and you know before he goes out, you want to give him a taste of the glory that is going to be his. In addition to that, these are recruiting tapes -- I mean for other Palestinians who -- Hamas who'd want to recruit for this job.
This is a taste of, you know, the 15 minutes of fame. This is a -- this is a very powerful tool for them to get future bombers and we've seen in the course of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that it's no trouble for Hamas to get suicide bombers. There's no shortage of bombers. When they -- when they're able to launch an operation, when they have the explosives together, and they've selected the site, and they're prepared to act, it's not a great difficulty to find someone who's willing to die in this cause.
ZAHN: You shared with us a little bit of the Islamic doctrine. You said it makes these young men believe they're going onto Paradise.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: What else are they told will happen to them, that they will suffer a painless death.
BEYER: Right.
ZAHN: And what else?
BEYER: And they will also be married off to 72 beautiful virgin brides.
ZAHN: Seventy-two.
BEYER: Seventy-two, that's right.
ZAHN: Why 72?
BEYER: I don't know. You'd have to ask Mohammed, but ...
ZAHN: Not 71, but 72.
BEYER: Seventy-two, it's in Koranic scripture and you know I think that there are many factors which would drive someone to a suicide bombing, but these men often tend to be quite young. They're almost always quite young. They're very -- almost always unmarried and they have not practiced any sort of premarital sex.
ZAHN: Well is that banned?
(CROSSTALK)
BEYER: I think that's fair to say. Yes and conservative Islamic culture, there's really very little premarital sex. It's really not allowed and so the sexual conservatism of these societies would make the appeal of 72 brides, you know, rather great. There is -- there is actually a profile of these -- of these suicide bombers -- the Palestinian suicide bombers that the Israeli security agency, the Shinbet, has drawn up and they're almost always young, between the ages of 18 generally and 24.
They're almost always unmarried. They're very often unemployed and generally you will find in their personal histories a particular trauma connected with the conflict -- either a brother who has been killed, perhaps in front of them, a mother who has been beaten up. Unfortunately, of course, almost every Palestinian has directly experienced some kind of trauma. So it doesn't help you isolate the group very well. But generally there is a pattern to who these individuals are, and of course they are very devout.
ZAHN: Fascinating stuff. Lisa Beyer of "Time Magazine" giving us a much better insight as why anybody would want to strap a bomb on their body and blow themselves up. Thank you for your time this morning.
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