Suicide Terrorism

How to Radicalise Friends and Terrorise People: Charting the Rise of Islamic Political Violence in the UK

by Lewis Herrington

First year PhD review submission

They say everyone remembers where they were when that second plane flew into the South Tower. Many stared motionless... more They say everyone remembers where they were when that second plane flew into the South Tower. Many stared motionless at the television wondering how the first pilot could fail to notice a 1368ft building reachin out high into the clear blue sky. A tragic accident quickly became recognised for what it was; a devastating act of suicide terrorism. Less than an hour after the initial impact, the twin towers that previously defined the New York skyline had collapsed. Through the marvel of live television, those terrifying images of explosions, flying debris and imploding buildings were scorched effortlessly into the minds of an entire generation. Today, merely uttering 9/11 quickly ignites painful memories of fuel laden commercial jets flying low and fast towards their targets. Memories of terrified office workers jumping from the 85th floor to avoid a burning inferno, and of brave fireman racing blindly up stairways not realising they might never return. I remember rushing back home from the office to be with my heavily pregnant girlfriend. We sat motionless on the sofa for days on end watching 24 hour news coverage wondering what kind of world our daughter would soon be born into. In the smouldering post-apocalyptic ruins, President George W Bush stood aloft the rubble and addressed his audience. “I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and soon the people who knocked down these buildings will hear from all of us”. The War on Terror was formulating while the US military machine began mobilizing. Around the world, leaders from every country were offered a simple choice: “either you are with us [USA], or you are with the terrorists” (Bush, 2001). A clash of ideologies sat on the horizon and Britain would shortly experience for itself the devastation that Suicide Terrorism can wreak on a population.

What About Suicide Bombers? A Terse Response to a Terse Objection

by Marc Champagne

Published in The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, vol. 11, no. 2 (2011), pp. 233–236.

Stressing that the pronoun "I" picks out one and only one person in the world (i.e., me), I argue against... more Stressing that the pronoun "I" picks out one and only one person in the world (i.e., me), I argue against Hunt (and other like-minded Rand commentators) that the supposed "hard case" of destructive people who do not care for their own lives poses no special difficulty for rational egoism. I conclude that the proper response to a terse objection like "What about suicide bombers?" is the equally terse assertion "But I don't want to get blown up."

Selbstmordattentate im Nahost-Konflikt und deren Auswirkung auf die Zivilbevölkerung.

by Robert Friebe

Bachelor thesis

Sex, Lies, and Paradise: The Assassins, Prester John, and the Fabulation of Civilizational Identities

by Geraldine Heng

differences 23.1 (Spring 2012).

The Assassins of Alamut are presented in popular media and academic studies as the 11th century forerunners of today's... more The Assassins of Alamut are presented in popular media and academic studies as the 11th century forerunners of today's "suicide terrorists"---thus producing a genealogy of spectacular Middle Eastern suicide-homicides that stretches back some 900 years.

"Sex, Lies, and Paradise" analyzes accretions of stories about the Assassins: to see how the Assassins got their name, were believed to anticipate an Islamic paradise in the afterlife, and came to represent for the West a volatile nexus of sex and violence.

This effort of literary archeology considers both eastern and western fabulations, and examines in particular how two popular, widely-circulating European texts---Marco Polo's Travels, and Mandeville's Travels---were key in shaping western understanding.

The article begins and ends by reflecting on the stakes involved---today, and in the past.

Ramanathan, S. and Krishnadas, R. (2009) Suicide terrorism. In: Sher, L. and Vilens, A. (eds.) Terror and Suicide. Nova Science Pulishers, Hauppauge NY, pp. 39-54. ISBN 978-1-60876-103-6

by Rajeev Krishnadas