Acts of terrorism come in many forms, using guns, bombs and even human beings as weapons of mass destruction. This paper will focus on the last one, the use of human beings as a weapon, otherwise known as suicide bombers. It will look into who they are, why they are used, how they are trained and the devastation they can cause by their actions. Everyone remembers September 11 and the massive destruction and the tragic loss of so many lives that fateful day in New York city, the Pentagon, and an empty field in Pennsylvania when three planes were taken over by suicide bombers, as an act of terrorism on the American people. What are suicide bombers? By definition a suicide bomber is, “a person who has a bomb hidden on his or her body and who kills himself or herself in the attempt to kill others” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2015). The events of September 11 brought to light the devastating effects of what suicide bombers are capable of doing, showing that human beings are being used as weapons of mass destruction. Men, women and even children are used as ‘human bombs ‘and who are recruited, trained and willing to give up their own lives for the ‘cause’, they are usually promised that they will be remembered as a martyr or a hero to their organizations and communities and “is what makes suicide bombers so dangerous” (Lewis, 2013). What makes suicide bombers so dangerous is their ability” to recognize the precise time and place to detonate their weapons for maximum
what they do and to whom. Pape is trying to convey that "suicide terrorism is rising around the
For our purposes, we will use the Title 22 of the US Code, Section 2656f(d), to define terrorism. It defines terrorism as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents” (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Examples of terrorism persist on a near daily basis around the world. Unstable countries, such as Afghanistan and Syria, deal with terrorist attacks on a constant basis. The common thread of these attacks is deliberate targeting of civilian populations in order to achieve political objectives. The best known and largest example are
Properly motivated suicide bomber is in a position to break closer to the attack point and is more flexible which makes him more effective, also takes advantage of favourable situation. Suicide types of attacks are particularly shocking to people who do not understand the rationale and motivation of perpetrators of such attacks. In addition, it deepens the psychological effect of suicide bomb attacks which is adding the fear and thus better promoting the objective of the terrorists.
Suicide terrorism is one of those acts of violence that is almost impossible to defend against. In his article, Atran (2003) explains suicide terrorism as “the targeted use of self-destructing humans against noncombatant-typically civilian-populations to effect political change” (pg. 1534). One of the most remembered dates is American history is September 11, 2001. This was a day in which suicide terrorism took the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans (History.com, 2010). This suicide attack is where 19 Al-Qaeda followers hi-jacked four airplanes and used them to crash them into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. This triggered the then President, George W. Bush to declare war to “destroy Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network based there” (History.com, 2010). Osama bin Laden was Al-Qaeda leader that claimed responsibility of the suicide attack on the United States. This type of use of suicide terrorism was not only used to kill many innocent people, but to be televised and reported on to put fear into the
According to Morgenstern (n.d.) in a publication about the history of suicide terror attacks are reviewed. The article sites facts from early terrorist attacks in 1983 as well as of detailed attacks in recent years. The author provides insight to the recruitment and training methods used by terror groups based on case studies and classified information from Israeli police. Their findings conclude that religion
This quote by Pat Robertson works as a great illustration for how our nation reacted to the suicide attacks carried out by Al-Qaeda on United States soil. The initial reaction by political pundits and politicians alike was that the only cause of these attacks was due to a radical Islamic view on the world. However, in Robert A. Pape and James K. Feldman’s book Cutting the Fuse they try to analyze data on suicide bombing and try to determine what is the root cause of these violent acts. Their conclusions are the exact opposite of the rhetoric that was presented to the American public. Instead of blaming Islamic extremists, they instead come to the conclusion, “that military occupation is the main factor driving suicide terrorism” (Pape & Feldman 10). Furthermore, they also put forth the argument that our current military strategies involving military occupation are counter-productive because rather than deterring violence, it actually increases suicide-bombings committed against American forces. In this paper I will examine the conclusions Robert Pape and James Feldman have come to and will also analyze these conclusions in Cutting the Fuse with a belief that this text works to refute much of what the American public has been told.
Living the United State when one thinks of a terrorist attacks often their mind will first go to a larger scale attack such as the events of September 11th 2001. “September 11, 2001 changed the United States forever, the terrorist attack that day marked a dramatic escalation in a trend toward more destructive terrorist attacks which began in the 1980s. It also reflected a trend toward more indiscriminate targeting among international terrorists. The vast majority of the more than 3,000 victims of the attack were civilians. In addition, the attack represented the first known case of suicide attacks carried out by international terrorists in the United States.” (Waston, 2002) However as the years have gone by we have come to learn that terrorist attacks are not always on a large scale and that even one person who is inspired by the ideologies of a terrorist group without being directly connected to them can carry out attacks. Those that engage in this type of terrorism are referred to as lone wolf terrorist. A recent example of such an even was the mass shooting at the San Bernardino Inland Regional Center in December of 2015.
Child suicide bombing is a big issue that is about how people are kidnapping children(mostly girls) and taping bombs onto them to blow up the area were they kidnappers want them to explode. “Of the 134 suicide bombers whose age could be determined, 60% were teenagers or children. The youngest suicide bomber identified to date was just 7 years old” CNN says. This issue is taking advantage of teenagers and others. Since the kidnappers don’t want to get caught or blown up they take children that their parents sold and strap explosives on them to do the work for them. Of course this is outrageous issue, but instead of not killing themselves they wanted to think smart and use others.As well as regularly employing women to
The ever evolving subject of terrorism and terrorists is the subject of significant study worldwide. The psychological and behavioral factors involved in terrorism are one of the most studied issues. It has implications across the board for both the detection and deterrence of terrorism. How terrorists communicate and the influence that it plays in growing terroristic ideology, mission, and goals are also of significant importance, as well.
Suicide terrorism works well against a free population who dislike its use. When it comes to using the tactics against democratic country, there is a massive probability that terrorist goals will be met than when tactics are being used against non-democratic country (...). In many foreign cultures there is grow of the nationalist groups which are following the radical views therefore these believes and also the examples if the suicide bombers are needed for the terrorist groups to gain more recruits (...).
“Terrorism involves the use of violence by an organization other than a national government to cause intimidation or fear among a target audience;” at least, this is how Pape (2003) defines terrorism in his article “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism” (343). The goal of this article by Pape is to discuss suicide terrorism and how it “follows a strategic logic, one specifically designed to coerce modern liberal democracies to make significant territorial concessions” (343). Similar to Pape, Bloom (2004) and Horowitz (2010) also delve into the exponential increase of suicide terrorism and why it occurs. Although Pape, Bloom, and Horowitz concur that suicide terrorism is increasing, they disagree why it is so prominent. While the
Suicide terrorism has become so commonplace that it is easy to overlook how relatively new and suddenly popular the phenomenon is. Between the end of World War II and the Iranian revolution, there were no suicide attacks in the world. Yet only months after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini solidified power and formed the Pasdaran and Basij, suicide attacks began to appear in conflicts involving Shiites (Lebanon, the Iran-Iraq war) and then took root among Palestinian Sunni groups.3 It eventually became the preferred tactic of Islamist terror organizations. Khomeini selected specific passages from the Qur’an and hadith (canonical collections of Muhammad’s alleged sayings and actions) to craft his suicidal version of radical Islam.
Walter Laqueur’s book, “The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction”, is empowering readers with the entire spectrum of terrorism. The reasons behind terrorism are not easy to understand, but Laqueur goes into great detail to try and bring the reader to an understanding of what the terrorist is thinking in order to justify the means to the end.
The history of terrorism can be traced back as far as the French revolution. Some of these acts of terrorism only seem as distant reminders of our past, but at the same time, are not a far cry from today’s brutal acts; and although these acts seem distant, it doesn’t also mean they are no longer in the thoughts of individuals in today’s time.
MacEoin (2009), begins his article with an examination of the origins of suicide bombing, he cites the suicide bombing of thirteen year old Hossein Fahmideh as the popularization of suicide bombing. He argues that since jihad forbids taking the lives of non-combatants such as women, children, the sick and the elderly; it creates a paradox within Islam. He makes the claim that to get around this paradox clerics will sanctify them as jihadists anyway. He then discusses how suicide bombers are proclaimed to be martyrs as well as how Muslim extremist have declared their love of death. He follows this up by examining the violent martyrs that have existed