What Pushes Women to Become Suicide Bombers?S  In a chilling
article for the New York Times magazine, reporter Alissa J.
Rubin speaks to would-be suicide bomber Baida. The roots of her
scorn? The American occupation, isolation, and an unwavering
belief that she is a warrior for God.  Each woman's story is
unique, but their journeys to jihad do have commonalities. Many
have lost close male relatives. Baida and Ranya lost both
fathers and brothers. Many of the women live in isolated
communities dominated by extremists, where radical
understandings of Islam are the norm. In such places, women are
often powerless to control much about their lives; they cannot
choose whom they marry, how many children to have or whether
they can go to school beyond the primary years. Becoming a
suicide bomber is a choice of sorts that gives some women a
sense of being special, with a distinguished destiny. But Major
Hosham urged me not to generalize: "All the cases are different.
Some are old; some are young; some are just crimina