When Women are Terrorists: Rape and Governmental Brutality can Ignite Female Rage

Increasingly, terrorism in our world has a woman’s face.
Need proof? Consider that the two Russian jets blown out of the sky this summer were the work of female suicide bombers from Chechnya. Or that a woman suicide bomber blew herself up on a Moscow subway station on August 31, killing 10 people. Or that women were among the hostage takers in a crowded Russian theater last year which left dozens of people dead, not to mention the attack on a school this summer which ended in a massacre. Or that suicide bombings by women are on the rise in Israel, Sri Lanka, Turkey and other hot spots around the world.
While male terrorists such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden tend to capture the headlines, women are increasingly involved in global struggles, particularly suicide missions.
That’s the appraisal of Dr. Mia Bloom, a specialist in counterterrorism who spoke at the International Affairs Forum at the Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City on Oct. 21.
Bloom spoke on the “Underlying Motivations for Terrorism” in countries such as Russia/Chechnya, South Asia and the Mideast. An assistant professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati, she is a consultant on terrorism to the U.S. government and the author of a new book, “Dying to Kill -- The Allure of Suicide Terror,” which will be published this March.
“My primary goal is to make sure that nothing blows up here ever again,” she says of her work.

SUICIDE BOMBINGS
Bloom began studying terrorism in 1990 and has a special interest in suicide bombings. “In 1992, a friend of mine got killed by Hamas, so it suddenly became very relevant to me,” she notes.
She has met with terrorists in the Mideast, Sri Lanka and elsewhere. Sometimes, she’s found that terrorists who kill civilians in cold blood over political differences can be surprisingly pleasant in person. “I met one Tamil terrorist in Sri Lanka who was shockingly charming and nice,” she recalls. “He made me tea and we talked.”
There’s a saying that, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” depending on who’s on the winning side of history. But Bloom says that what distinguishes a terrorist from a freedom fighter (such as the patriots in the American Revolution) is that their violence is directed at non-combatant civilians. For instance, the shoppers at Harrod’s department store in London which was bombed by the IRA in 1983, or the office workers at the Twin Trade towers in New York City.
“Terrorists have specific ideas of targets and what is appropriate in their community,” she said, noting that the Irish people were appalled by the car bombs directed at British civilians, prompting the IRA to stop the practice. The same was true of the Basque people who were sickened by ETA bombings in Spain.
On the other hand, Palestinian support for suicide bombings has gone from 25-30% several years ago to up to 80% today. “That’s because of the harsh treatment by the Israelis,” Bloom says.

WHY WOMEN?
In a word, rape is a major factor in turning women into terrorists around the world.
“You don’t hear much about it, but rape is often used as a military weapon,” Bloom says.
Conquering soldiers often engage in mass rape to humiliate and punish the enemy, and perhaps -- to paraphrase President Clinton -- because they can. The mass rape of thousands of women in conquered Berlin and Nanking during World War II is well documented, as are more current reports from Bosnia, Chechnya, Sudan, Chiapas, El Salvador and many other countries.
“In Sri Lanka, Chechnya and Turkey a lot of women who were raped became suicide bombers because it brought shame on them in their communities,” Bloom says. “Their only way to regain their honor was to die.”
In fact, it’s estimated that 60-65% of all Chechen terrorists are now women, owing to mass rapes by Russian troops or unrestrained brutality in Chechnya. In Turkey, a similar percentage of Kurdish rebels in the PKK are also women.
Brutal government policies, such as those practiced by Israel against the Palestinians, also create women terrorists. Israel’s right-wing politicians have instituted harsher measures against Palestinians through the years, and have seen more suicide bombings and attacks in reaction.
“In 1993, there were one, two or three suicide bombings per year in Israel, but in 2002 there were one to three a week,” Bloom notes.

ULTIMATE SMART BOMB
Women in particular have been recruited as suicide bombers in Israel. Initially, they attracted less suspicion than men.
“The suicide bomber is the ultimate ‘smart bomb’ because unlike a missile, the bomber can go to an area and decide to move on to a place where there are more people,” Bloom says.
“Suicide terrorism captures the headlines like nothing else, which is why terror organizations like it,” she adds.
She told of one Palestinian woman who had recently graduated with a law degree. “She tried to show she was very dedicated to the cause and became a Hamas bomber.”
Women have also been recruited as assassins. In 1991, a woman bowed at the feet of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India. She reached out to touch his feet and her bomb went off, splattering blood and gore across the square. Gandhi’s killer was a rebel seeking independence from India for the island of Sri Lanka. (The killing and a woman’s thoughts on suicide bombing is dramatized in an excellent DVD called “The Terrorist,” available at the TC Area Library.)

ENDING TERRORISM
Countries which resort to torture or oppression in response to terrorism can only expect more bombings and terror in response, Bloom says.
But countries which follow democratic, civilized practices can expect to see progress. Bloom noted that when Peru captured the leader of the Shining Path guerrilla movement, he was sentenced to life in prison and was pictured on national TV in an orange prison jumpsuit with his power obviously broken. The Shining Path movement soon fizzled out. By contrast, Turkey executed the head of a Hezbollah terror group and the movement went underground, becoming even more violent with bombings in Istanbul last year.
“You have to address peoples’ grievances in a way that they are less willing to die for their cause,” Bloom says. “If you give people a stake in the process, then dying seems a less acceptable way to solve their problems.”
In Israel, she feels that years of poor leadership on both sides of the conflict have only escalated terrorism. Unfortunately, the Palestinian people see American weapons and aid in the hands of their Israeli oppressors, sending a message all over the Mideast that the U.S. isn’t interested in social justice.
“The U.S. has to put more pressure on Israel,” Bloom says. “There needs to be some hard choices there, and if both the Israelis and Palestinians are not willing to make concessions, then peace is never going to happen.”

Why we must leave Iraq
Terrorists will bring the war to America, says expert

Terror groups tend to multiply and compete with one-another for more bloodshed and attention, as has been the case in places such as Lebanon and Israel.
That same dynamic is fast-arising in Iraq, said counterterrorism expert Mia Bloom at a recent lecture in Traverse City. Rather than decreasing terrorist attacks, the number of insurgent groups in Iraq are growing.
“I fear for this country, this war will only get worse,” Bloom says. “We are not winning this war. You could see it coming a year ago when the attacks were focused on military targets. Since then, they’ve become focused on UN aid groups and civilians.”
As in Israel, terrorist groups in Iraq are now rushing to take credit in the press for the latest bombing or beheading. Kidnapped aid workers are seen almost daily on TV, begging for their lives under the threat of beheadings. Bloom says that such scenes play into the terrorists’ hands and will only increase.
“Terrorism is political theater,” Bloom says. “The intention is to shock the audience and get them to talk about it for years to come.”
A year ago, Iraq had only one terrorist/insurgent group. Today it has at least six, Bloom says. “Jihad is the equivalent of Outward Bound for lost Muslims and they’re streaming into Iraq. The more organizations you have there, the more danger there will be to civilians and our troops.”
President Bush’s idea that we’re fighting terrorism overseas so that we don’t have to fight it at home is wrong, Bloom says.
“Iraq is creating more terrorists and making more incentives to bring it here.” She noted that when the rebels of Chechnya were unable to beat the Russians in their own land, they took the war to the heart of Moscow.
“Terrorists take their cause from the homeland to the heartland. They see a trend in their efforts, and if they don’t see success there in Iraq, they’re coming here. I like to think we’re secure, but there are some loopholes.”
In fact, she notes that the most expensive thing about a suicide bombing on U.S. soil is often the price of a bus ticket.
The good news is that major disasters such as the 9/11 attacks take a great deal of planning and coordination, and many American Arabs and Muslims are now on guard. “Fortunately, people in American mosques will call if they see something suspicious,” Bloom says. “Winning the hearts and minds of people is the only way to deter terrorism.”
In the meantime, America remains in Iraq at its peril. In mid October, Bloom and 850 experts in international security signed a letter condemning “the Bush administration’s foreign policy as a ‘misguided’ one with ‘overwhelmingly negative’ results for American national security.”
Many of the experts in foreign policy and counterterrorism are members of President Bush’s own advisory team. Yet Bloom says that although the non-partisan letter has been widely reported on and discussed overseas, virtually no information on its existence has surfaced in the American press.


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