The terrorist mindset in Yasmina Khadra’s the sirens of Baghdad

Abstract EN

This paper offers a close and critical reading of Yasmina Khadra’s novel The Sirens of Baghdad (2008).

The selected novel evokes important questions on the nature of terrorism in Iraq after the American invasion in 2003.

It gives a truthful description of the rise of fundamentalism and how young Muslims are transformed into religious fanatics.

Literature on terrorism offers insights into the nature of terrorism and with the gradual escalation of violence in recent years, it has attempted to provide an answer to the question that mystifies the whole world: what leads young men, some of whom highly educated, others well-off, to voluntarily throw themselves to what the West sees ironically as mere death and suicide.

Therefore, this paper examines ways in which Khadra’s novel can help broaden understandings of terrorism in Iraq.

In other words, we intend to use The Sirens of Baghdad as a focal point and guide to explore the motives and ideas behind the sociopolitical and psychic act of terrorism.

We attempt to offer a qualitatively different understanding of the more fundamental aspects of suicide bombing, including its nature, impact, and the policy responses it triggers.

Furthermore, the aim of this paper is to investigate the writer’s attempt to bridge the line between the East and West and engage in the dialogue concerning terrorwreaking in Iraq.

While certainly not excusing the terrorists’ violent acts, the writer has tried to correct some popular ideas about terrorists most of which have been fuelled by falsehoods and misinformation.