The religious foundations of suicide bombings.

Middle East Quarterly, September, 2006 by Bukay, David

Suicide terrorism has been the scourge of the last quarter century. A suicide bomb attack on the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut compelled Ronald Reagan in 1983 to withdrawal peacekeepers from Beirut. Palestinian leaders deploy suicide bombers to force Israeli concessions, and Iraqi insurgents use suicide bombings to derail the new political order. Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the U.S.S. Cole in Aden in 2000 and, on September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center and Pentagon. While some scholars argue there is no religious component to suicide bombing (1)--often citing Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, who are not Muslims--they are wrong. All Muslim suicide bombers justify their actions with their religion and, more specifically, with the concept of jihad.

WHAT IS JIHAD?...

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