WOCMES tackles global rise in suicide attacks

By Paul Tate

AMMAN — The global rise in suicide attacks is set to increase as a result of the inequalities of modern day conflicts, a leading specialist in the field said on Thursday.

In a keynote address delivered at the Second World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES-2), visiting Professor of Sociology at Yale University Riaz Hassan said since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 there have been more suicide attacks globally than in the previous 25 years combined.

“The targeted use of self-destructing humans against a perceived enemy for political ends has increased dramatically over the past 25 years, said Hassan, who has spent the past 40 years delving into the reasons which drive people to commit suicide.

Hassan said the main causes of suicide terrorism are primarily political and not religious, adding that they are linked to “a historical experience of humiliation and dispossession.”

“Attacks are more likely to take place in situations of unequal conflict and are aimed at forcing concessions from the more powerful enemy, said Hassan, referring specifically to Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq.

“The potential suicide bomber empowers him or herself in the face of powerlessness and is driven by deep-rooted feelings of humiliation which acts as a strong magnet in recruiting more potential bombers.”

According to the scholar’s research, between 1981 and 1990 there was an average of 4.7 suicide bombings globally each year.

However, in 2005 a total of 224 suicide attacks took place in the Middle East region alone, mostly in Iraq, with 172 attributed to the group formerly led by Abu Mussab Zarqawi.

“Studies reveal that most suicide bombers are aged between 18-31, are well educated, polite and serious individuals with a deep sense of religious conviction,” said Hassan.

He traced the modern era of suicide bombing to events in Lebanon and the 1981 attack against the Iraqi embassy and later the 1983 suicide operation targeting American and French forces in the country, leading to their ultimate withdrawal.

“However, suicide bombing is not the great modern phenomenon that we are led to believe, and can be traced back as far as the first century AD during the Roman occupation of Judea,” said Hassan.

“This trend carried on in the 12th and 13th centuries with the Islamic order of the Assassins in northwest Iran right through to the Japanese Kamikaze pilots during World War II and Sept. 11 2001,” he added.

“The main difference now is that the problem has become global.”

Hassan concluded by suggesting that the rise in suicide attacks can only be reversed by addressing the root causes, in addition to empowering moderate forces, engaging in constructive dialogue, moderating foreign policy and tackling the sources of funding.

“The strange thing is that as suicide attacks have increased whilst incidents of global terrorism have declined from 665 in 1986 to 208 in 2003,” said Hassan, saying this calls into question the whole concept of the US-led war on terror.

The keynote address was chaired by Hassan Abu Nimah, director of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies, the local organiser of the five-day conference.

The congress, which concludes today, gathers more than 1,500 scholars, researchers and experts on Middle East from around the world, drawn from a broad range of educational and other organisations.

Friday-Saturday, June 16-17, 2006