Terrorists strive on 'perverse hopes,' says official.

• Author: Fein, Geoff S.
• Position: Security Beat

Contrary to popular belief, many suicide bombers come from middle-class, well-off families rather than from destitute ones, according to a Pentagon official. Therefore, the solution to stopping this kind of terrorism is not economic in nature, but requires a changed strategic approach, said Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Douglas Feith.

"Westerners commonly assume that only a person ensnared in deep despair could be a suicide bomber," Feith said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation.

The assumption that the root causes of terrorism are poverty and political hopelessness must be reassessed, he said.

"This diagnosis ... blinds us to opportunities [where] we have to confront terrorism strategically."

Mohammed Atta, for instance--a key figure in executing the September 11 attack--was a middle-class Egyptian whose parents were able to send him to study abroad. His education meant that he could look forward to a relatively privileged life in Egypt--"hardly grounds for extreme despair," said Feith.

A strange mixture of "perverse hopes" characterizes terrorists, in Feith's opinion. "Some bombers cherish a perverse form of religious hope. The promise of eternity in paradise is a tenet of many faiths, a noble...