Suicide Attacks: weapon of the future?

[davidbfpo]

This thread has been dormant for sometime, but suicide attacks remain a daily event and perhaps this new book - only published in Hebrew - will offer insights.

The Smarter Bomb: Women and Children as Suicide Bombers, with a three page introduction:http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/mal...l/ipc_e085.htm

[Fuchs]

Most tactics are being suppressed by a huge superiority of the enemy ("dominance"). The continuation of hostilities can therefore be limited to the least easily suppressed tactics, and that does obviously include suicide bombings.

I'd say this tactic is about as relevant to the future as are conflicts with extremely different organized violence capabilities between the opponents.

[davidbfpo]

Robert Pape has written a commentary - thanks to FP; sub-titled:

Extensive research into the causes of suicide terrorism proves Islam isn't to blame -- the root of the problem is foreign military occupations.

Opens with:

Although no one wants to talk about it, 9/11 is still hurting America. That terrible day inflicted a wound of public fear that easily reopens with the smallest provocation, and it continues to bleed the United States of money, lives, and goodwill around the world. Indeed, America's response to its fear has, in turn, made Americans less safe and has inspired more threats and attacks.

(Ends with)The United States has been great in large part because it respects understanding and discussion of important ideas and concepts, and because it is free to change course. Intelligent decisions require putting all the facts before us and considering new approaches. The first step is recognizing that occupations in the Muslim world don't make Americans any safer -- in fact, they are at the heart of the problem.

Not surprisingly his views have attracted many comments in opposition.

[davidbfpo]

From an Israeli think tank, a short paper as yet unread:

This article applies a psychological approach to explore and to explain the behavior of Palestinian terrorists who blow themselves up in the light of their own words. It is shown that terrorists have no suicidal intent; hence their behavior is not an act of suicide. Psychological analysis point to a behavioral reaction to stress situations that are perceived as threatening to survival, which could account for the lethal activity of the Palestinian terrorists. These findings suggest that such terrorists could be deterred if an appropriate alternative for their lives was available to them.

Link:http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/article/20415

[davidbfpo]

A short article 'Convincing suicide-bombers that God says no' by Professor Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama and the author of 'The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers':http://www.opendemocracy.net/adam-la...at-god-says-no

Link to Amazon with publishers reviews:http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Martyrdom...uctive+Killers

those responsible for prosecuting the case against suicide-terrorism should have capitalised on a much simpler and more powerful belief that Christians, Jews, and Muslims all agree on: God disapproves of suicide. This should have been the launching point for changing perceptions about suicide-terrorism worldwide. And it still can be.

In his research he found:

...many of them were clearly suicidal, in the clinical sense. In a number of cases, they openly admitted their psychological pain and deep despair in their suicide notes or “martyrdom” videos, or in the statements they made to those around them.

Also on:http://www.newscientist.com/article/...html?full=true