Ensayo

ALEXANDER SANDOVAL DELGADO

SUICIDE ATTACKS                                                                                                                            (ESSAY)

The 11th of September has been one of the most tragic days in American history, thousands of people from over 90 countries died as a result of terrorist attacks committed by extremist Islamic of Al-Qaeda, which is a terrorism organization that aims to drive Americans and their influence out of Muslim countries.

This attack exposed a complex reality, self-sacrifice in the interest of a cause. This phenomenon is more common every time and it’s difficult to understand the reasons a person has to commit this kind of violent acts.

Recently several attacks have taken place in different regions, for example, Bali 02, Istanbul 03, Madrid 04, etc. most of them committed by extremist Islamic, killing many civilians and even themselves, that has caused a general fear and has stigmatize a specific group of people.

The perception about suicidal attacks is that they are carried out by insane fanatic, but for real is almost never the case. They are completely aware of their imminent fate as they are of the fate of their victims and any psychological pathology does not seem to be present [1].

Then what could encourage anyone to engage in such attack? There are different motivations, which include attention to a cause, personal notoriety, revenge for all victims of this conflict, the act of Martyrdom is an opportunity to be remembered and get glory,  those reasons could captivate individuals who perceive their lives not significant.

Cultural implications are also important; people who grow up in settings where religion, politics, or ethnicity is the center of life are more probably to approve the martyrdom tendency.  For example, Palestine children grow up in difficult conditions because Middle East conflict, so they perceive these practices acceptable and the self sacrifice against Israeli people as a way to take revenge. Furthermore there are other benefits, economics, spiritual, social, some of them include free apartments, rewards in the after life for the attacker´s family, etc. [1].

Most of the attacks are committed by individuals, who belong to a terrorist organization, they offer them support in these operatives, but seemingly suicide attackers make their own decision and also they are not crazy, for experts that is not true, they have been manipulated by the pressure and belief structures of the group.

There are numerous advantages in using such attacks for the organization purpose. First, suicide attacks are more effective than any other type of terrorist attacks. From 1980 to 2001, suicide attacks were just 3% of all terrorist attacks but they were responsible for around 48% of total deaths due to terrorism. Second, the organization obtains more publicity than other kind of terrorism attacks, which is important in order to increase the number of followers for the cause. Third, economical benefits exert influence over the organization, monetary rewards can be large, for example, an 18 year old Palestinian girl committed self sacrifice in a supermarket, and then a Saudi telethon collected around $100 million for the Palestinian. Fourth, suicide attacks require less complex operatives, there is no need to rescue or provide an escape route for the attacker. In safe terms, this method is more feasible for the organization, there is no risk that intelligence will be leaked. Likewise, the attacker will not face any interrogation, capture, trial and imprisonment. Finally, suicide attacks are intimidating for the target population. This kind of acts could spread a feeling of fear and desperation into de people [1].

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