  We study whether spin-independent scattering of weakly-interacting massive
particles (WIMPs) with nuclei can account for the annual modulation signal
reported by DAMA. We consider both elastic and inelastic scattering processes.
We find that there is a region of WIMP parameter space which can simultaneously
accommodate DAMA and the null results of CDMS, CRESST, and XENON. This region
corresponds to an ordinary, elastically-scattering WIMP with a standard
Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, a mass 3 GeV < m_{DM} <8 GeV, and a
spin-independent cross section with nucleons 3 \times 10^{-41} cm^2 <
\sigma_p^{SI} < 5 \times 10^{-39} cm^2. This new region of parameter space
depends crucially on the recently discovered effect of channeling on the energy
threshold for WIMP detection in the DAMA experiment; without the inclusion of
this effect, the DAMA allowed region is essentially closed by null experiments.
Such low-mass WIMPs arise in many theories of Beyond the Standard Model
physics, from minimal extensions of the MSSM to solutions of the baryon-dark
matter coincidence problem. We find that inelastic scattering channels do not
open up a significant parameter region consistent with all experimental
results. Future experiments with low energy thresholds for detecting nuclear
recoils, such as CDMSII-Si and those utilizing ultra-low energy germanium
detectors, will be able to probe the DAMA region of parameter space.
