NationStates Jolt Archive

Quite interesting. Here is the relevant article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10315095/site/newsweek/

Women of Al Qaeda
Jihad used to have a gender: male. The men who dominated the movement exploited traditional attitudes about sex and the sexes to build their ranks. They still do that, but with a difference: even Al Qaeda is using female killers now, and goading the men.

Why this change in Al Qaeda's policies? Why would a Muslim woman devote herself to such ideologies and commit such actions? A sign of things to come? Thoughts?

Quite interesting. Here is the relevant article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10315095/site/newsweek/



Why this change in Al Qaeda's policies? Why would a Muslim woman devote herself to such ideologies and commit such actions? A sign of things to come? Thoughts?
Radical extremism is not sexist.

Why would a woman do this though? Desperation or fanaticism?

The start of equality of the sexes in the Middle East. If women can blow themselves up then surely they can do other things as well?

I wonder what their incentive is since they probably won't get 40 virgin men in Paradise. :confused:

Perhaps its an expression of the self-destructive desires some women experience? I think its fanatic devotion though.

If you were married to ANY religious extremist, wouldn't you want to blow yourself up!

The start of equality of the sexes in the Middle East. If women can blow themselves up then surely they can do other things as well?

I wonder what their incentive is since they probably won't get 40 virgin men in Paradise. :confused:
Having recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, and been indirectly involved in the internal affairs of the development of their government (during the Loya Jirga), I can honestly say that the majority of the women will do whatever they are told by their husbands/fathers. It is my belief that they are not "volunteering" under their own free will. Social equality does NOT exist and therefore is unlikely that they would blow themselves up under their own volition.:headbang:

Perhaps they are bred to be fanatic? To believe that their purpose in life is to die for Allah.

Again, to state the social inequalities. The males are "bred" to believe that their purpose in life is to "die for Allah" (at least those who are fanatics). The women merely exist to procreate with and produce more fanatics!

Well, it certainly puts them ahead of the US Army for equal rights...in Jihad, everybody can die!

They can't drive car-bombs, though. That would be wrong.

Oh, no, that would be silly.

Quite interesting. Here is the relevant article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10315095/site/newsweek/



Why this change in Al Qaeda's policies? Why would a Muslim woman devote herself to such ideologies and commit such actions? A sign of things to come? Thoughts?

You might find this interesting. Female suicide bombers are nothing new...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_suicide_bomber

Why would a woman do this though? Desperation or fanaticism?
Regardless of gender it's usually an extreme peer pressure thing. Imagine if you will that you lived in saaay... France when you were a kid, and the Germans invaded and killed your parents etc. You emigrate to England with a group of remaining friends and family in search of a better life. No matter how much you want to fit in with the English, your French elders will never forget what the Germans did to them. Although your memories of the event are clouded, the older member's of your communitie's fervent ranting means that you believe all Germans must be destroyed regardless of cost. Then it consumes you.

THAT is what's happening all over the world.

You might find this interesting. Female suicide bombers are nothing new...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_suicide_bomber

Yeah, this isnt new. In fact I thought the first suicide bomber was a 14 year old girl who ran under a tank in palestine with explosives. I could be wrong about that though. Regardless, its been happening for a while.

i was under the impression it has been around quite a while, particularly in Chechnya where the Russians have killed the husbands of many women and therefore driven them into terrorism.

i was under the impression it has been around quite a while, particularly in Chechnya where the Russians have killed the husbands of many women and therefore driven them into terrorism.

IIRC the Russians found a solution to that. They kidnapped all of the women whose husbands had been killed and many of them haven't been seen since.

I heard it quite a while ago though so I don't have a source.

It's probably equally likely to be fanatical devotion on the part of women or pressure to obey their men -- depending on where the female suicide bombers are from.

There have been plenty of female terrorists, suicide attackers, and politically motivated murderers all over the world, in lots of different conflicts. The same motives inspire both men and women.

And what the other poster said about social control over women in some places (his example, Afghanistan) is also true.

The more interesting question is why is al-Qaida encouraging this? The part about goading the men is telling. Are they having trouble recruiting? I've always thought the al-Qaida goal of perpetual religious war is unfeasible -- people can't live that way for more than short bursts at a time. I'm starting to get a feeling from international media coverage (not a definitive source, but more like a general barometer) that John Q. Muslim is getting sick of this counter-productive crap. 9/11 boosted their cred, but they seem to have gotten diminishing returns from subsequent attacks. Maybe, like Bush, there's just too much difference between the promised results and the real results.

Why would a woman do this though? Desperation or fanaticism?
Love of Burquas and stonings?

Even if it is not that new, its quite an odd phenomenon. I feel sorry for women who are born under more oppressive Islamic regimes. They are almost bred into slavery.