Suicide Bombers
What are they thinking?
Suicide Bomber - those 2 words give us pause. Ever since the terrorist attack on Sept 11, 2001, we Americans have had 1st hand knowledge with the meaning of these words and the aftermath that follows. In order to attract the publicity necessary to generate widespread fear, terrorist must engage in increasingly dramatic, violent, and high-profile attacks. These have included hijackings, hostage takings, kidnappings, car bombings and frequently, suicide bombings. We all have seen these accounts in the news and witnessed (some first hand) the destruction that these bombers have caused, but have you have ever stopped to wonder what makes a person become or agree to be a suicide bomber? Or ask why a person would want to give their life to kill innocent people? Are they that dedicated to their cause or are there other reasons that make people participate in such heinous acts? What about the impact of illiteracy and unemployment as their motivation? Or could it be something else?
Times Gone By The 1st recorded use of suicide bombers goes all the way back to the Crusades when Nights Templar destroyed one of their own ships and 140 Christians to kill 1400 Muslims. Suicide bombers were rarely heard about in history until the 20th century when, during World War II, the Japanese Air Force rigged their planes and pilots with explosives and crashed them into US Navy ships and aircraft carriers. The Japanese use of these kamikaze pilots was very successful and the United States had a hard time combating them. After World War II, suicide bombings were rarely heard of until April of 1983 when the terrorist organization of Hezbollah had a suicide bomber drive a truck filled with explosives into the US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The attack killed many marines and started the current trend in the Middle East. Many terrorists groups then started using suicide bombers in their fight but none of these groups used the
Suicide Bomber - those 2 words give us pause. Ever since the terrorist attack on Sept 11, 2001, we Americans have had 1st hand knowledge with the meaning of these words and the aftermath that follows. In order to attract the publicity necessary to generate widespread fear, terrorist must engage in increasingly dramatic, violent, and high-profile attacks. These have included hijackings, hostage takings, kidnappings, car bombings and frequently, suicide bombings. We all have seen these accounts in the news and witnessed (some first hand) the destruction that these bombers have caused, but have you have ever stopped to wonder what makes a person become or agree to be a suicide bomber? Or ask why a person would want to give their life to kill innocent people? Are they that dedicated to their cause or are there other reasons that make people participate in such heinous acts? What about the impact of illiteracy and unemployment as their motivation? Or could it be something else?
Times Gone By The 1st recorded use of suicide bombers goes all the way back to the Crusades when Nights Templar destroyed one of their own ships and 140 Christians to kill 1400 Muslims. Suicide bombers were rarely heard about in history until the 20th century when, during World War II, the Japanese Air Force rigged their planes and pilots with explosives and crashed them into US Navy ships and aircraft carriers. The Japanese use of these kamikaze pilots was very successful and the United States had a hard time combating them. After World War II, suicide bombings were rarely heard of until April of 1983 when the terrorist organization of Hezbollah had a suicide bomber drive a truck filled with explosives into the US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The attack killed many marines and started the current trend in the Middle East. Many terrorists groups then started using suicide bombers in their fight but none of these groups used the
References: Ives-Halperin, B. (2002). A New Generation of Suicide Bombers. CQ Researcher, 12, (29), 686-688. Retrieved September 8, 2006, from Academic Search Permier. Krueger, A.B., & Maleckova, J. (2003). Education, Poverty, & Terrorism: Is There a Causal Connection? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 17, (4), 119-144. Retrieved September 12, 2006, from JSTOR. Oliver, A. M., & Steinberg, P. F. (2005). The road to martyrs’ square: a journey into the world of the suicide bomber. New York City, NY: Oxford University Press. Ripley, A., Rees, M., August, M., Baghdadi, G., Hamad, J., Klein, A., MacLeod, S., Mustafa, N. (2002). Why Suicide Bombing Is Now All The Rage. Time Europe, 159, (15), 22-30. Retrieved September 8, 2006, from Academic Search Permier. Suicide Bomber. (2006). In Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 13, 2006, from Wikepedia Online: http://www.wikipedia.com Terrorism. (2006). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved September 20, 2006, from Encyclopedia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/article-217764