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| Olde Tyme Religion | |
| Interview: The Dr. Ruth of Counter-Terrorism | |
| 2010-04-13 | |
FP: Nancy Kobrin, welcome to Frontpage Interview. Congratulations on your book. Tell us about its significance and what makes it different from all other books on suicide terrorism to date. Kobrin: Thank you so much Jamie. I must say how indebted I am to you and the entire staff at Frongpagemag.com because you provided the opportunity and invaluable space to discuss and debate my theory for the suicide attack with other colleagues. If it hadn't been here at Frontpage, I wonder if this book would have ever been written. My thanks and gratitude to you all. This is a psychological study and its significance is that it is the first to address early childhood development and its crucial role that it plays in suicide terrorism with regard to the psychology of extremism and gender – specifically with the emphasis on the devalued female in Arab Muslim shame honor cultures which have developed suicide terrorism. This is not to blame the female or the mother but to understand the power and control of her and its devastating consequences. To the best of my knowledge and to date, I know of no other book or theory, which has made the link between the horrific abuse of the female and its ramifications with regard to murder-suicide, her split-off body parts and the alleged honor killing. I hasten to add that we are only at the beginning of understanding the phenomenon and we are in the model T stage of integrating a more in-depth or shall we say psychodynamic approach to the knowledge that we have about terrorism. Because I understand non-verbal communication and ninety-five percent of what we communicate is nonverbal, the focus of the book is primarily on the nonverbal predatory behavior of these terrorists by looking at the imagery. It is understandable that we tend to stress the terrible nature of the incitement of the ideologies of Jihad and violence, which are indeed extremely important. However, by over focusing on its “verbiage', this tends to obscure an already confusing and terrorizing picture. The ideologies act like a girdle, which harnesses the pre-existing rage of a fragile abused child grown into a “time-bomb' of a personality. I'll give an example later in the interview when I address the issue of the female suicide bomber, how we can easily miss a “hidden communication' in this terrorism, precisely because it is so deeply terrorizing. This is why people are always mystified by the “nice guy or gal jihadi next door.' The mask of “peace' is so well developed, giving perfect cover for a rageful personality. It hides the embroiled rage and it is so terrorizing that “We just don't want to go there. . .' This is also why Islam can present itself as a religion of peace when it is a religion of two pieces – Jihad and Peace – two sides of a coin. If we are going to be effective in filleting the phenomenon of Islamic suicide terrorism, it is imperative that the imagery be taken into consideration and factored in with the ideologies. When read together, then other questions can be raised concerning the psychological function of religious and cultural practices. How did I come to this realization? I recall the first psychiatric child patient that I ever had to interview. It was on a locked ward and I was tasked to establish a rapport with a five year old boy who was hospitalized for setting fires — immolation. I was told to talk with him and engage him through a game of checkers. No sooner did we sit down that he had his foot on top of mine under the table. I said to myself – OMG, alpha male dominance. I realized that he was absolutely terrified of me. Terror is not to be equated with fear. It is nameless dread, non-verbal which encapsulates a complete sense of utter vulnerability, tantamount to death. | |
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