IP: Foreign Policy: Rational Fanatics

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 04:17:38 -0400
> From: "Robert J. Berger" <rberger () ultradevices com>
> To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
>
> Rational Fanatics
>
> What makes suicide bombers tick? While most of the world sees them as
> lone zealots, they are, in fact, pawns of large terrorist networks
> that wage calculated psychological warfare.  Contrary to popular
> belief, suicide bombers can be stopped-but only if governments pay
> more attention to their methods and motivations.
>
> By Ehud Sprinzak
> http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_SeptOct_2001/sprinzak.html
>
> October 23, 1983, was one of the most horrific days in the history of
> modern terrorism. Two massive explosions destroyed the barracks of the
> U.S. and French contingents of the multinational peacekeeping force in
> Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 American servicemen and 58 French
> paratroopers. Both explosions were carried out by Muslim extremists
> who drove to the heart of the target area and detonated bombs with no
> intention of escaping.  Subsequent suicide attacks against Israeli and
> U.S. targets in Lebanon and Kuwait made it clear that a new type of
> killing had entered the repertoire of modern terrorism: a suicide
> operation in which the success of the attack depends on the death of
> the perpetrator.
>
> This tactic stunned security experts. Two centuries of experience
> suggested that terrorists, though ready to risk their lives, wished to
> live after the terrorist act in order to benefit from its
> accomplishments. But this new terrorism defied that belief. It seemed
> qualitatively different, appearing almost supernatural, extremely
> lethal, and impossible to stop. Within six months, French and
> U.S. Presidents Frangois Mitterrand and Ronald Reagan pulled their
> troops out of Lebanon-a tacit admission that the new terrorism
> rendered all known counterterrorist measures useless. Government
> officials erected concrete barriers around the White House and sealed
> the Pentagon's underground bus tunnels. Nobody was reassured. As Time
> magazine skeptically observed in 1983: "No security expert thinks such
> defensive measures will stop a determined Islamic terrorist who
> expects to join Allah by killing some Americans."
>
> Whereas the press lost no time in labeling these bombers irrational
> zealots, terrorism specialists offered a more nuanced appraisal,

<snip>



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