Irrational Terrorism
There is often a perplexing irrationality to acts of Islamic terrorism. Iām thinking, for example, of the London bomber whose desire for martyrdom was apparently ignited by US abuse of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, especially the incident of an American flushing a copy of the Koran down the toilet. The irrationality lies in the moral nonequivalence of killing innocent British civilians, including Muslims, as a way of avenging mistreatment, not murder, of Muslims by Americans; in the fact that well before the London bombers struck, it became apparent that the toilet-flushing incident had never occurred; and in the fact that at the time of the bombing, the only people deliberately killing Muslim civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan were other Muslims.
Another example of irrational terrorism is reported today. Friends of the would-be female suicide murderer whose bomb failed to detonate in Amman, Jordan last week claim that three of her brothers were killed by US forces in Iraq's Anbar province. According to CNN, this "is being considered as a possible motivation" behind her bid for martyrdom. That would make perfect sense. The Americans killed three of her brothers in Iraq, so no wonder she journeyed to Jordan in order to murder some Muslims celebrating a wedding.
(A footnote: FoxNews.com prefer the term homicide bomber to suicide bomber because it focuses on the death of the victims rather than the perpetrator. But while this approach is laudable, the new term does not clearly indicate that the bomber kills himself (or herself) in the process, which is obviously an important distinction. Anyone who sets a bomb that kills people could also be referred to as a homicide bomber, even if the bomb is not strapped to his (or her) body. But recently, Victor Davis Hanson used the term suicide murdering, which I also intend to use from now on. This term and related terms like suicide murder and suicide murderer also foreground the death of the victims, but still indicate that the bomber was on a suicide mission.)
Another example of irrational terrorism is reported today. Friends of the would-be female suicide murderer whose bomb failed to detonate in Amman, Jordan last week claim that three of her brothers were killed by US forces in Iraq's Anbar province. According to CNN, this "is being considered as a possible motivation" behind her bid for martyrdom. That would make perfect sense. The Americans killed three of her brothers in Iraq, so no wonder she journeyed to Jordan in order to murder some Muslims celebrating a wedding.
(A footnote: FoxNews.com prefer the term homicide bomber to suicide bomber because it focuses on the death of the victims rather than the perpetrator. But while this approach is laudable, the new term does not clearly indicate that the bomber kills himself (or herself) in the process, which is obviously an important distinction. Anyone who sets a bomb that kills people could also be referred to as a homicide bomber, even if the bomb is not strapped to his (or her) body. But recently, Victor Davis Hanson used the term suicide murdering, which I also intend to use from now on. This term and related terms like suicide murder and suicide murderer also foreground the death of the victims, but still indicate that the bomber was on a suicide mission.)
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