Understanding suicide terrorism: Insights from psychology, lessons from history

In order to prevent and combat suicide terrorism one first needs a clear understanding of suicide terrorists. However, such an understanding is often badly lacking in the West. Myth and innuendo dominate much of the wider perception of who suicide terrorists are, what drives them, how terrorist groups view and organise these tactics and what might be done to prevent and deter such extremists. Instead, informed and balanced writing on suicide terrorism is rare; drowned out in a deluge of material which paints the bombers as deranged fanatics, brainwashed and duped into acts of incomprehensible violence.