The Psychiatrist's Contribution to Understanding and Preventing Acts of Terrorism
| Author | Wagdy Loza, Hy Bloom, and Mini Mamak |
| Pages | 623-656 |
CHAPTER 29
The Psychiatrist’s Contribution to
Understanding and Preventing Acts of Terrorism
Wagdy Loza, Hy Bloom, and Mini Mamak
I. INTRODUCTION
Terrorism is a major problem and has become a serious global threat that could continue for decades
(Moghaddam, 2008). Many other countries are similarly taking extreme measures to prevail over terror-
ism. is major problem is a relatively recent phenomenon in Canada and has added a complex area for
the consideration of mental health consultants (MHC) within the legal context.
e potential for mislabelling problematic ideologies as mental conditions or disturbances (although
this may sometimes be the case) is another area of concern. is is not to say, however, that terrorism is
outside the mental health sphere and that psychiatrists and psychologists have little or nothing to con-
tribute about the subject. e contrary is t he case.
A key task for the MHC is to understand the biological, psychological, and sociocultural determin-
ants of behaviour, especially aberrant and violent behaviour. Understanding the pathway between fanta-
sies, ideas and feelings, and violence as regards terrorism, although occurring for literally thousands of
years, is still a relatively new area of study. e opportunities for academics and clinicians to learn more
about this area of study are many. It is also to be hoped that the more knowledge we gain of the motiva-
tional forces behind such violence, the better chance we have of eliminating or reducing such violence.
is chapter will review, amongst other things, the psychosocial and sociocultural background of
terrorism, drawing principally on Middle Eastern Terrorism (MET). MET was selected because of its
prominence as an international concern, and because it has become a focus of the newly emerging litera-
ture on the subject of terrorism. e chapter will descr ibe the postulated social, psychological, and other
antecedents involved in recruitment and transformation to terrorism, the approach of assessing individ-
uals charged with terrorist-related oences, and oer some recommendations to manage and reduce the
risk of terrorism — individually and systemically.
II. UNDERSTANDING EXTREMISM AND TERRORISM
A. Definition of Terrorism
Although there have been many proposed over the years, there is no one denition that adequately cap-
tures the many forms and expressions of terrorism (Drummond, 2002; Laqueur, 1987). It is estimated
that there are more than one hundred denitions of terrorism (Zillmer, 2006), and no one denition of
terrorism has been accepted universally (Ganor, 2008). However in the United States, dierent agencies
have accepted the term “terrorism” to mean “the premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrat-
ed against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents” (Stevens, 2005). In 2002,
the Counterterrorism Committee of the UN General Assembly draed a denition of terrorism, which
is still being debated. It denes terrorism as “the act of destroying or injuring civilian lives or the act of
Wagdy Loza, Hy Bloom, and Mini Mamak
destroying or damaging civilian or government property without the expressly chartered permission of
a specic government, thus, by individuals or groups independently or governments on their own accord
and belief, in the attempt to eect some political change” (Stevens, 2005).
e main characteristics of terrorist action are the calculated use of unexpected, shocking, and un-
lawful violence against non-combatants (Drummond, 2002; Laqueur, 1987). Terrorism does not have the
characteristics of warfare; “terrorists” are not synonymous with “soldiers” and do not operate according
to the rules of war (Stevens, 2005). Terrorism is a tactic rather than a structure, an organization, or a
belief system (Arehart-Treichel, 2005). Because of its reliance on extreme violence, terrorism is meant to
produce a huge psychological impact (Mahmood, 2001) and there are several reasons given for the use
of terrorist activity. Among them are: to create high prole impact on the public with the goal of under-
mining public condence in their own government; to make routine social activity dicult; to inict as
much damage as possible; to seek vengeance; and to create physical pain and paralyzing psychological
emotions such as panic, chaos, unrest, fear, paranoia, anxiety, anger, grief, and a sense of tragedy (Ardila,
2002; Furnish, 2005; Hudson, 1999; Lawal, 2002; McCauley, 2002; Reid, 2002; ackrah, 2004).
B. Brief History of Terrorism
Terrorism is neither a new phenomenon nor unique to one culture or religion (Abou El Fadel, 2005; Stern,
2003; Jackson, 2001) or to one region of the world. e idea of terrorism dates back hundreds of years
BC (Reid, 2003). Around 48 AD, a Jewish sect known as Sicarii (or Zealots) committed terrorist attacks
against Roman occupiers and collaborators.
From the 11th to the 13th centuries, a Shiite sect in Syria known as the Assassins murdered Muslim
Sunni leaders, and other governing rulers (Pedahzur, 2005). In Jerusalem, they murdered and terrorized
those who opposed them. In the 13th century, Hindu thugs strangled their victims and buried them in
an eort to please the Goddess Kali (Rapoport, 1984).
In 1572, Christian terrorists committed the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, in which it is esti-
mated that up to one hundred thousand French Protestants were killed by Catholic mobs (Christian
Terrorism, nd).
In 1784, Moroccan pirates hijacked American ships as a form of jihad against Christians (Lee, 2008).
Examples of more recent terrorist acts and organizations include: the killing of the Israeli athletes by
the Black September (Palestinian) terrorist group during the 1972 Munich Olympic games (Post, 2005);
the Jewish groups known as the Irgun, Stern gangs, Kach, and Kahane Chai (Stern, 2003), whose goals
were to establish and expand the state of Israel; the several Christian terrorist groups, such as Saints
for Christ (Stern, 2003) and the Warriors for Divine Justice, known to belong to the pro-life movement
(Drummond, 2002); the American Christian Patriot movement (Wilki nson, 2001); the Army of God; the
Aryan Nations and the Christian Patriots, whose groups committed terrorist acts because they opposed
abortion and homosexuality (Christian Terrorism, nd); the Animal Liberation Front that advocated for
the rights of the animals but caused massive destruction of property in the United States and United
Kingdom (Stevens, 2005); and the Muslim groups that have been committing terrorist acts in many
countries around the world, such as the Egyptian Jamma El Islamia, El Jihad el-Islami, and el Takfeer
wil Hegrah, who are related to the Muslim Brotherhood. ese groups have killed and injured several
thousands of people, and have caused massive destruction (El-Saeed, 2004; Hafez, 2003).
e most spectacular terrorist attacks, however, were committed by al-Qaeda and involved a ser-
ies of airplane crashes (including into the twin towers of the World Trade Center) in Manhattan, New
York, in 2001, and a series of bombings in Madrid in 2004 and in Bali and London in 2005 (Silke, 2008).
Al-Qaeda is an amalgamation of Bin Ladens, Aani Arabas, and two Egyptian terrorist groups that go
back to the 1950s, when the precursor organization to the two — the Muslim Brotherhood — was led
The Psychiatrist’s Contribution to Understanding and Preventing Acts of Terrorism
by Egyptian scholar Sayyid Qutb. e latter, whom Sibley (2007) refers to as the ideological godfather of
Islamist terrorists, studied in the west but vehemently hated what he saw as the west’s focus on money
and exploitation of female sexuality. He blamed Judaism, Christianity, and secularism for the decay of
western society and believed that nothing short of a new Islamic order would cleanse the world and re-
store the relationship between man and God (Sibley, 2007).
Other notable groups include the Japanese religious cult Aum Shinrikyo, whose members released
Sarin gas into the Tokyo subway in 1995. e Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have had thousands of
victims in Sri Lanka since 1972 (Stevens, 2005). e list also includes a long history of political, separa-
tists, leist, and right-wing terrorist groups in Europe.
C. The Magnitude of the Problem
In 2006 it was estimated that over one thousand terrorist organizations were active in more than one
hundred countries (Zillmer, 2006); that terrorists have attempted over thirty attacks against EU coun-
tries since 2001 (Wicker & Lieto, 2007); that from 2002 to 2005 an average of four terrorist attacks oc-
curred annually in dierent countries, killing an average of 214 people each year (Mylorie, 2008); and,
that in Canada forty groups were listed as terrorist entities (Public Safety Canada, 2008). Further, it is
estimated that since 9/11, terrorists having middle-east religious ideologies are responsible for killing
over 26,000 and wounding 50,000 in attacks in over y countries. Examples of terrorist acts commit-
ted before 9/11 are those that occurred in Algeria that killed t housands of people and those in Kenya and
Tanzania, Beirut, Israel, and Mumbai (Alstad, 2007). During the 1990s, over 1000 people died in Egypt
alone as a result of religiously based terrorists acts (Blaydes & Rubin, 2008). Since the 1940s, terrorists
have murdered or attempted to murder heads of states (e.g., the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981),
several prime ministers and highly ranked government ocials, diplomats, tourists, academics, writ-
ers, and others who oppose their extreme views (Hafez, 2003). Furthermore, in 2005 and 2006 respec-
tively, Austral ian and Canadian security agencies thwarted plans to assassinate members of government
and parliament, and destroy buildings, such as government buildings, parliaments, the stock exchange,
broadcasting buildings, and the opera house. Terrorists were also planning to behead the Prime Minster
of Canada (in 2006).
i. Middle Eastern terrorism
ere is evidence that the prevalence of religious thinking and dissemination of extreme ideologies in
Middle Eastern countries is paving the way toward more extremism and terrorism, and is a foundational
step toward building the terrorist mind (El-Bana, 2008; Yaseen, 2007a; Loza, 2010a). e problem with
extremism is that it is a potent precursor to frank terrorist behaviour. Religious individuals who are
predisposed to extreme views are more susceptible to developing extremist ideologies, which is the most
important step in creating the terrorist mind (Yaseen, 2007a).
It is important to realize that the primary target group for an ideological response is the majority of
Muslims, not only extremists or terrorists (Bin Hassan, 2006). Most terrorist groups disappear aer an
average of six and a half years of activity, because of the breakdown of social support that ensues when
the public supporting extreme ideation disapproves of certain terrorist acts (Bin Hassan, 2006).
ere are concerns that the extreme religious ideologies of jihad (known in the west as holy war) are
prevalent and growing among the Muslim communities in Europe (Bawer, 2006; Wicker & Lieto, 2007;
Yaseen, 2007b). e growth of extremist ideologies among the Muslim sub-populations in Europe may
be attributable to the fact that European countries have granted asylum to hard-core extremists who
escaped prosecution or who served prison time for extremism in their native Middle Eastern or Asian
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