Muslim Arabs and the Rest of the World

As news continues to come in about the violence occurring in the middle east between Arabs and Jews, and our military and insurgents in Iraq, Kim Jong Ill and North Korea; I can't help but think the world will be ending soon. I am always looking for insight into this problem; I want to understand it more, so it makes sense to me to look to Arab journalists, or just your average Mohammed on the street to help make sense of everything. I found in interesting blog entry here. The author gives his thoughts "Regarding the deafening Arab silence in condemning Israel."
I also read a very interesting interview of a man named Pierre Rehov, a French filmmaker who has filmed six documentaries on the intifada by going undercover in the Palestinian areas. Pierre's upcoming film, "Suicide Killers," is based on interviews that he conducted with the families of suicide bombers and would-be bombers in an attempt to find out why they do it.
The following are parts I found very interesting(which ends up being nearly the entire transcript):

Q - Why is this film especially important?

A - People don't understand the devastating culture behind this unbelievable phenomenon. My film is not politically correct because it addresses the
real problem, showing the real face of Islam. It points the finger against a
culture of hatred in which the uneducated are brainwashed to a level where their
only solution in life becomes to kill themselves and kill others in the name
of a God whose word, as transmitted by other men, has become their only
certitude.

Q - What insights did you gain from making this film? What do you know
that other experts do not know?

A - I came to the conclusion that we are facing a neurosis at the level
of an entire civilization. Most neuroses have in common a dramatic event,
generally linked to an unacceptable sexual behavior. In this case, we are talking
of kids living all their lives in pure frustration, with no opportunity to
experience sex, love, tenderness or even understanding from the opposite
sex. The separation between men and women in Islam is absolute. So is contempt
toward women, who are totally dominated by men. This leads to a situation of
pure anxiety, in which normal behavior is not possible. It is no coincidence
that suicide killers are mostly young men dominated subconsciously by an
overwhelming libido that they not only cannot satisfy but are afraid of, as if it is
the work of the devil. Since Islam describes heaven as a place where
everything on Earth will finally be allowed, and promises 72 virgins to those
frustrated kids, killing others and killing themselves to reach this redemption
becomes their only solution.

Q - What was it like to interview would-be suicide bombers, their
families and survivors of suicide bombings?

A - It was a fascinating and a terrifying experience. You are dealing
with seemingly normal people with very nice manners who have their own logic,
which to a certain extent can make sense since they are so convinced that what
they say is true. It is like dealing with pure craziness, like interviewing
people in an asylum, since what they say, is for them, the absolute truth. I
hear a mother saying "Thank God, my son is dead." Her son had became a shaheed,
a martyr, which for her was a greater source of pride than if he had
became an engineer, a doctor or a winner of the Nobel Prize.

This system of values works completely backwards since their
interpretation of Islam worships death much more than life. You are facing people whose only dream, only achievement goal is to fulfill what they believe to be their
destiny, namely to be a Shaheed or the family of a shaheed. They don't see the innocent being killed, they only see the impure that they have to destroy.

Q - Is there a suicide bomber personality profile? Describe the
psychopathology.

A - Generally kids between 15 and 25 bearing a lot of complexes,
generally inferiority complexes. They must have been fed with religion. They
usually have a lack of developed personality. Usually they are impressionable
idealists. In the western world they would easily have become drug addicts, but not
criminals. Interestingly, they are not criminals since they don't see
good and evil the same way that we do. If they had been raised in an Occidental
culture, they would have hated violence. But they constantly battle against their own death anxiety. The only solution to this deep-seated pathology is to be
willing to die and be rewarded in the afterlife in Paradise.

Q - Are suicide bombers principally motivated by religious conviction?

A - Yes, it is their only conviction. They don't act to gain a territory
or to find freedom or even dignity. They only follow Allah, the supreme
judge, and what He tells them to do.

Q - Do all Muslims interpret jihad and martyrdom in the same way?

A - All Muslim believers believe that, ultimately, Islam will prevail on
earth. They believe this is the only true religion and there is no room,
in their mind, for interpretation. The main difference between moderate Muslims
and extremists is that moderate Muslims don't think they will see the
absolute victory of Islam during their lifetime, therefore they respect other beliefs. The extremists believe that the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Islam and
ruling the entire world as described in the Koran, is for today. Each victory of
Bin Laden convinces 20 million moderate Muslims to become extremists.

Q - Describe the culture that manufactures suicide bombers.

A - Oppression, lack of freedom, brain washing, organized poverty,
placing God in charge of daily life, total separation between men and women,
forbidding sex, giving women no power whatsoever, and placing men in charge of
family honor, which is mainly connected to their women's behavior.

Q - What socio-economic forces support the perpetuation of suicide
bombings?

A - Muslim charity is usually a cover for supporting terrorist
organizations. But one has also to look at countries like Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are also supporting the same organizations
through different networks. The ironic thing in the case of Palestinian suicide bombers is that most of the money comes through financial support from the Occidental world, donated to a culture that utterly hates and rejects the West (mainly symbolized by Israel).

Q - Is there a financial support network for the families of the suicide
bombers? If so, who is paying them and how does that affect the decision?

A - There used to be a financial incentive in the days of Saddam Hussein
($25,000 per family) and Yasser Arafat (smaller amounts), but these days
are gone. It is a mistake to believe that these families would sacrifice their
children for money. Although, the children themselves who are very
attached to their families, might find in this financial support another reason
to become suicide bombers. It is like buying a life insurance policy and
then committing suicide.

Q - Why are so many suicide bombers young men?

A - As discussed above, libido is paramount. Also ego, because this is a
sure way to become a hero. The shaheeds are the cowboys or the firemen of
Islam. Shaheed is a positively reinforced value in this culture. And what kid
has never dreamed of becoming a cowboy or a fireman?

Q - How can we put an end to the madness of suicide bombings and terrorism in
general?

A - Stop being politically correct and stop believing that this culture
is a victim of ours. Radical Islamism today is nothing but a new form of
Nazism. Nobody was trying to justify or excuse Hitler in the 1930s. We had to
defeat him in order to make peace one day with the German people.

Q - Are these men traveling outside their native areas in large numbers?
Based on your research, would you predict that we are beginning to see a
new wave of suicide bombings outside the Middle East?

A - Every successful terror attack is considered a victory by the
radical Islamists. Everywhere Islam expands there is regional conflict. Right
now, there are thousands of candidates for martyrdom lining up in training camps in
Bosnia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Inside Europe, hundreds of illegal mosques
are preparing the next step of brain washing to lost young men who
cannot find a satisfying identity in the Occidental world. Israel is much more
prepared for this than the rest of the world will ever be. Yes, there will be
more suicide killings in Europe and the U.S. Sadly, this is only the
beginning.

Pretty sobering stuff. This interview both answers questions, and begs more. Regarding his comments about the suicide bombers' libidos--He is saying that because they are not getting laid, they are killing themselves. That may be overly simplistic on my part, but I don't see any young Mormon men going out and killing people because they haven't gotten any. I realize though, that there is much more to it than just being horny. The filmmaker talks about "organized poverty" aiding the leaders' ability to "brainwash" these young men. I think that is a very good point, just look at all the young Muslim men in western Europe and in America; they are enjoying more economic prosperity (more so to the ones in America) and are not as a result volunteering their lives for a cause.

Anyway, just my two cents on probably the biggest issue facing all of us in the world right now: what to do about radical Islam.