suicide terrorism
THE USE OF SUICIDE TERRORISM
FOR POLITICAL AIMS
Terrorism can be defined as the use of violence on non-combatants. Suicide terrorism is terrorism with the added twist that the perpetrator dies committing the violent act.
My first exposure to people willing to die for a cause was the suicide bombers during the Second World War, when Japanese kamikaze pilots dove their planes loaded with bombs into American warships. Kamikaze which means “Divine Wind” in Japanese was Japan`s futile attempt to balance the ever increasing technological and material advantage of the American forces advancing on Japan. The Japanese needed a force equalizer and suicide pilots were suggested by vice-admiral Oniche of the Japanese navy . In effect the suicide pilots were human guided missiles. A total of 5000 Kamikaze pilots were launched mostly at the battle for Okinawa. The result was 36 American ships and landing crafts sunk, and 368 damaged. The attacks terrorized the American fighting troops but the United States advance was never halted. Other similar tactics were speed boats filled with bombs, midget submarines etc all with the idea of a bombing guided by a person willing to give up his or her life..
It appears the Germans were headed in the same direction but with the development of the V1 cruise missile and its operational status, the German military felt they could achieve the same result and not lose their pilots. The Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka still use this tactic on occasion but the number of attacks are diminishing.
With the Tamil Tigers, the Japanese and the Germans, religion was not a predominate factor. It was a matter of righting real or imagined wrongs, or defeating an invader or conquering land to the benefit of the conqueror. Al Qaeda presents a somewhat similar situation, but the “raison de etre” is that of a holy war. The true followers of traditional Islam feel that religious law supersedes secular law and that land taken from Islamic rule during a war must be re-occupied. Thus Spain and parts of France should be re-conquered. Islamic fundamentalists work against Moslem regimes if they believe that the secularists place their government`s laws ahead of religious laws. This is the situation in Syria, Egypt and Jordan and to some extent in Saudi Arabia
When suicide bombers attack a civilian target, world opinion generally accepts this as a terrorist act. Of course the people behind the attack define any person living in the country attacked as supporters of the regime and fair game. In essence, Islamic fundamentalists are continuing to fight a war started when Muhammad invaded the west and the west returned the compliment urged on by the Catholic church and the Crusades. With so many Moslems emigrating to the west for economic reasons it is realistic to expect that a few would get involved with illegal terrorist acts .The internet allows for relatively secret communication between like-minded people. For these immigrant terrorists it remains a religious war, as they believe that western nations should not be in Islamic countries at all, even though they have been invited by the host governments. Western democratic countries are being charged with bigotry and animosity towards Moslems but, if that is the case, how can one account for so many Moslems from throughout the world accepted as immigrants?
The rule of secular law in western democracies must supersede religious law, as that is a basic tenet of our free society.
