Page 371 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

S-Kushner.qxd 28-10-02 11:28 AM Page 351

Suicide Terrorism———351

Pacific. Although these attacks were aimed at military Eastern region. Similar types of assaults are known to
targets, and as such not acts of terrorism against civil- have occurred over a span of several centuries in
ians, they did demonstrate a willingness to use suicide three little-known Muslim communities of the Indian
as a weapon. Ocean region: those of the Malabar coast of south-
Suicide terrorism in the sense we think of it today western India; Atjeh in northern Sumatra; and
dates to the early 1980s, when young Hezbollah ter- Mindanao and Sulu in southern Philippines.
rorists in Lebanon came under the control of Sheik Although these earlier suicide attacks in Asia were
Mohamed Fadlallah. His apocalyptic preaching not undertaken with the same political awareness that
attracted young followers who, like Fadlallah, characterizes the organizers of the incidents in Beirut
believed that the enemies of Islam could be destroyed and Israel, they represent essentially the same phe-
through martyrdom and suicide missions. In 1983, nomena: protests against Western authority, colonial
Hezbollah launched a devastating suicide bombing rule, or occupation by Muslims who thought they had
campaign against U.S. interests in the region. The first no other means of fighting against a superior military
suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden van into the power.
side of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing many people It can be argued that these suicide bombers are
and injuring many more. Six months later, another merely performing acts of martyrdom that first took
suicide bomber attacked the U.S. embassy and U.S. place 13 centuries ago after the death of Muhammad.
Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, causing massive The prophet’s death in 632 left Muslims without a
loss of life. leader to watch over the faith. Several followers met to
Shortly thereafter, suicide terrorism was employed rectify this by selecting a caliph, a temporal authority
by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), better to guide the community, but religion soon gave way to
known as the Tamil Tigers. This terrorist group waging politics. Within 40 years after the prophet’s demise,
war against the government of Sri Lanka used suicide various caliphs had managed to assassinate their way
terrorists to kill Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in to power, and Islam had divided into two sects. The
1991 and Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa orthodox Sunnis accepted the reign of temporal lead-
in 1993. A Tiger suicide bomber killed 100 people in an ers, whereas the Shiites believed that their imams were
attack on a bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1996. the divinely inspired and infallible descendants of
In 1994, the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Muhammad.
better known by its Arabic acronym Hamas, which In 680, Husayn ibn ’Ali and his wife Fatima
means “zeal,” began using suicide terrorism against (daughter of Muhammad) marched on the Sunnis in
Israel. At about the same time, the Al Qaeda network, what Husayn hoped would be a gesture of reconcilia-
under the leadership of Osama bin Laden, began plan- tion. According to legend, Husayn dreamed that no
ning to use suicide missions against U.S. embassies reconciliation was possible and that he and his fol-
in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, as well as the U.S.S. lowers would die in a battle with the Sunnis. Husayn
Cole in Yemen in 2000. Also in 2000, the second Pales- disregarded the premonition and he and his family
tinian uprising, or intifada, saw suicide attacks move to marched to their deaths near the village of Karbala,
the forefront as the terrorist weapon of choice. which is today in Iraq. To this day, especially in Iraq
The most egregious act of suicide terrorism and Iran, passion plays and mass processionals are
occurred on September 11, 2001, when 19 hijackers performed each year in commemoration of Husayn’s
commandeered four planes, flying two into the World martyrdom. These events are sometimes marked by
Trade Center in New York City and one into the rites of self-flagellation in which young men scrape
Pentagon near Washington, D.C. The fourth crashed in their backs with hooks to draw blood, especially on
an open field in Pennsylvania after a struggle between Ashura, the 10th day of the month of Muharam, the
passengers and terrorists. These suicide missions man- anniversary of Husayn’s death.
aged to take the lives of more than 3,000 individuals. These rituals are clearly not suicide; indeed, Islam
forbids the taking of one’s own life. Rather, they sym-
bolize the readiness to summit to the will of Allah
RELIGION AND SUICIDE TERRORISM
with the understanding that rewards will come after
Religiously sanctioned suicide attacks are not unique death. Islam emphasizes that life on earth is merely a
to the modern period or confined to the Middle transition to a better life. A suicide bomber is making