International Journal on Criminology Volume 4, Number 2, Winter 2016 | Page 65

Know What You Are Fighting
henchmen and their potential recruits.
In general, official statements after an attack are not addressed to the criminals
but to public opinion and often lack any message to hesitant Islamists. After a suicide
attack, asserting that “the terrorists use tricks and any means to commit their misdeeds”
or rather that “they manipulate indoctrinated teenagers” is very different. On the one
hand, parents know they should worry for their children; on the other, sponsors have
to deny to reassure their troops. For example: a 16-year-old adolescent blew himself
up in front of barracks, then, a short time later, the suicide attack of a 60 year old at
UN headquarters (in Algiers). A successful strategy for terrorists who, all at once,
reassure their troops and discredit the official discourse.
Candidates: the Choice is not by Chance
The simplistic discourses of the sponsors draw a wide variety of candidates for
suicide, although they all have a certain intellectual apathy. The providers of suicideattacks
thus use this variety of different profiles to counteract official propaganda and
reinforce their own. When, after the September 11 attacks, the president of the United
States calls the “kamikazes” crazy or unstable; when their social milieu is said to be
favorable to this type of criminality; when their education or age is criticized, the
communication strategy being used is not very relevant.
The providers of suicide attacks often choose the place of the attack, age of
the “kamikaze,” gender, social category, and education to contradict officials having
to explain such a complex phenomenon in the immediate aftermath. In the future, the
choice of a woman to commit such an attack thus becomes plausible if it serves the
communications strategy of the terrorists.
Studying the Crime Scene, an Irresistible Need
Filming the location, visiting it before and after the act is a constant. Even
if reconnaissance of the location is necessary, visiting the setting of a suicide attack
betrays an unconscious need: useful information for investigators. The “on location”
presence of the suicide attacker or an accomplice is almost guaranteed, before or after.
Thus the sponsor of the Paris attacks on November 13, 2015, returned to the Bataclan
at the very time when the police occupied the building.
This occurred because in the crowd, among the emergency workers, a presence
is necessary after the attack to listen to the immediate reaction. For the terrorists,
contemplating desolation and horror is an important objective.
The Sponsors, Producers of Human Bombs
64