Dying to Win

Dying to Win PDF Author: Robert Pape
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812973380
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Includes a new Afterword Finalist for the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award One of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject of suicide terrorism, the esteemed political scientist Robert Pape has created the first comprehensive database of every suicide terrorist attack in the world from 1980 until today. In Dying to Win, Pape provides a groundbreaking demographic profile of modern suicide terrorist attackers–and his findings offer a powerful counterpoint to what we now accept as conventional wisdom on the topic. He also examines the early practitioners of this guerrilla tactic, including the ancient Jewish Zealots, who in A.D. 66 wished to liberate themselves from Roman occupation; the Ismaili Assassins, a Shi’ite Muslim sect in northern Iran in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; World War II’s Japanese kamikaze pilots, three thousand of whom crashed into U.S. naval vessels; and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, a secular, Marxist-Leninist organization responsible for more suicide terrorist attacks than any other group in history. Dying to Win is a startling work of analysis grounded in fact, not politics, that recommends concrete ways for states to fight and prevent terrorist attacks now. Transcending speculation with systematic scholarship, this is one of the most important studies of the terrorist threat to the United States and its allies since 9/11. “Invaluable . . . gives Americans an urgently needed basis for devising a strategy to defeat Osama bin Laden and other Islamist militants.” –Michael Scheuer, author of Imperial Hubris “Provocative . . . Pape wants to change the way you think about suicide bombings and explain why they are on the rise.” –Henry Schuster, CNN.com “Enlightening . . . sheds interesting light on a phenomenon often mistakenly believed to be restricted to the Middle East.” –The Washington Post Book World “Brilliant.” –Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc.

Dying to Win

Dying to Win PDF Author: Robert Pape
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812973380
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Get Book

Book Description
Includes a new Afterword Finalist for the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award One of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject of suicide terrorism, the esteemed political scientist Robert Pape has created the first comprehensive database of every suicide terrorist attack in the world from 1980 until today. In Dying to Win, Pape provides a groundbreaking demographic profile of modern suicide terrorist attackers–and his findings offer a powerful counterpoint to what we now accept as conventional wisdom on the topic. He also examines the early practitioners of this guerrilla tactic, including the ancient Jewish Zealots, who in A.D. 66 wished to liberate themselves from Roman occupation; the Ismaili Assassins, a Shi’ite Muslim sect in northern Iran in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; World War II’s Japanese kamikaze pilots, three thousand of whom crashed into U.S. naval vessels; and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, a secular, Marxist-Leninist organization responsible for more suicide terrorist attacks than any other group in history. Dying to Win is a startling work of analysis grounded in fact, not politics, that recommends concrete ways for states to fight and prevent terrorist attacks now. Transcending speculation with systematic scholarship, this is one of the most important studies of the terrorist threat to the United States and its allies since 9/11. “Invaluable . . . gives Americans an urgently needed basis for devising a strategy to defeat Osama bin Laden and other Islamist militants.” –Michael Scheuer, author of Imperial Hubris “Provocative . . . Pape wants to change the way you think about suicide bombings and explain why they are on the rise.” –Henry Schuster, CNN.com “Enlightening . . . sheds interesting light on a phenomenon often mistakenly believed to be restricted to the Middle East.” –The Washington Post Book World “Brilliant.” –Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc.

On Suicide Bombing

On Suicide Bombing PDF Author: Talal Asad
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231511973
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 138

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Book Description
Like many people in America and around the world, Talal Asad experienced the events of September 11, 2001, largely through the media and the emotional response of others. For many non-Muslims, "the suicide bomber" quickly became the icon of "an Islamic culture of death" a conceptual leap that struck Asad as problematic. Is there a "religiously-motivated terrorism?" If so, how does it differ from other cruelties? What makes its motivation "religious"? Where does it stand in relation to other forms of collective violence? Drawing on his extensive scholarship in the study of secular and religious traditions as well as his understanding of social, political, and anthropological theory and research, Asad questions Western assumptions regarding death and killing. He scrutinizes the idea of a "clash of civilizations," the claim that "Islamic jihadism" is the essence of modern terror, and the arguments put forward by liberals to justify war in our time. He critically engages with a range of explanations of suicide terrorism, exploring many writers' preoccupation with the motives of perpetrators. In conclusion, Asad examines our emotional response to suicide (including suicide terrorism) and the horror it invokes. On Suicide Bombing is an original and provocative analysis critiquing the work of intellectuals from both the left and the right. Though fighting evil is an old concept, it has found new and disturbing expressions in our contemporary "war on terror." For Asad, it is critical that we remain aware of the forces shaping the discourse surrounding this mode of violence, and by questioning our assumptions about morally good and morally evil ways of killing, he illuminates the fragile contradictions that are a part of our modern subjectivity.

Dying to Kill

Dying to Kill PDF Author: Mia Bloom
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231133203
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
What motivates suicide bombers in Iraq and around the world? Can winning the hearts and minds of local populations stop them? Will the phenomenon spread to the United States? These vital questions are at the heart of this important book. Mia Bloom examines the use, strategies, successes, and failures of suicide bombing in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe and assesses the effectiveness of government responses. She argues that in many instances the efforts of Israel, Russia, and the United States in Iraq have failed to deter terrorism and suicide bombings. Bloom also considers how terrorist groups learn from one another, how they respond to counterterror tactics, the financing of terrorism, and the role of suicide attacks against the backdrop of larger ethnic and political conflicts. Dying to Kill begins with a review of the long history of terrorism, from ancient times to modernity, from the Japanese Kamikazes during World War II, to the Palestinian, Tamil, Iraqi, and Chechen terrorists of today. Bloom explores how suicide terror is used to achieve the goals of terrorist groups: to instill public fear, attract international news coverage, gain support for their cause, and create solidarity or competition between disparate terrorist organizations. She contends that it is often social and political motivations rather than inherently religious ones that inspire suicide bombers. In her chapter focusing on the increasing number of women suicide bombers and terrorists, Bloom examines Sri Lanka, where 33 percent of bombers have been women; Turkey, where the PKK used women feigning pregnancy as bombers; and the role of the Black Widows in the Chechen struggle against Moscow. The motives of individuals, whether religious or nationalist, are important but the larger question is, what external factors make it possible for suicide terrorism to flourish? Bloom describes these conditions and develops a theory of why terrorist tactics work in some instances and fail in others.

Suicide Warfare

Suicide Warfare PDF Author: Rosemarie Skaine
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
This book provides up-to-date coverage of the policies, strategies, and effects of suicide in war, examining this subject from societal and military perspectives to shed light on the justifications for using human beings as expendable weapons. Suicide warfare has expanded over the years and become a global phenomenon. In some parts of the world, it has become rooted in the fabric of society. Westerners often find it difficult to grasp why someone would be willing to sacrifice their life in order to take the lives of others. Suicide Warfare: Culture, the Military, and the Individual as a Weapon provides a thorough examination of the topic that enables readers to understand the justification for suicide warfare and better appreciate how the ideology of the individuals and organizations that resort to suicide warfare greatly complicates security issues in the 21st century. The book covers the policies, strategies, and effects of suicide in war, examining suicide warfare in its entirety from a theoretical standpoint, and then applying those theories to the actual manifestations of and politico-military responses to suicide warfare. The author discusses specific organizations such as Al Qaeda and the Chechen rebels, analyzing each within its societal context, military justification, individual motivation, and outcomes, and addresses principles of sociological and conflict theory to place suicide warfare in a clearer conceptual framework. The book presents case studies that allow readers to better understand abstract theories and make distinctions between individual cases of suicide warfare.

Oxford Textbook of Suicidology and Suicide Prevention

Oxford Textbook of Suicidology and Suicide Prevention PDF Author: Danuta Wasserman
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198834446
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 857

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Book Description
Part of the authoritative Oxford Textbooks in Psychiatry series, the new edition of the Oxford Textbook of Suicidology and Suicide Prevention remains a key text in the field of suicidology, fully updated with new chapters devoted to major psychiatric disorders and their relation to suicide.

Suicide Terrorism

Suicide Terrorism PDF Author: Ami Pedahzur
Publisher: Polity
ISBN: 9780745633831
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Suicide terrorism in its modern form made its first appearance in Lebanon in the early 1980s. Over the last quarter century, terrorist attacks perpetrated by suicide bombers have spread to many corners of the world and have become a major threat for both the governments and citizens of numerous countries. Can this devastating phenomenon be attributed to a specific religion or culture? What are the causes and motivations that lead ordinary people to embark upon suicide attacks? How are potential bombers trained for their mission? And is it possible for democratic governments to effectively cope with this challenge? In this compelling book, Ami Pedazhur investigates the root causes of suicide terrorism and its rapid proliferation in recent years. Drawing on a variety of sources, the book explores the use of human bombs in Lebanon, Israel, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Chechnya, Iraq, and the ostentatious attacks of Al-Qaeda and the global jihad. It is the only book to offer such an in-depth, up-to-date, cross cultural analysis of suicide terrorism in the twenty-first Century.

Fighting Suicide Bombing

Fighting Suicide Bombing PDF Author: Israel W. Charny
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1573566381
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
How does one effectively fight suicide bombers? What threat do they hold for Western society? How do people who love peace reconcile the need for war? Noted genocide expert Israel W. Charny addresses these questions in this highly personal description of suicide bombings and terror as the opening salvos of a Third World War. Charny first seeks to understand what makes suicide bombers tick, as well as the culture from which they emerge. Taking this understanding of what he calls human evil, he then proposes a hawkish campaign that ultimately emphasizes peace rather than irrational fear. By deeming suicide bombing and terrorism as necessary subjects in the study of psychology, Charny presents yet another weapon in the war against terrorism-a war that he believes will only escalate without drastic action. Ultimately, he calls for a worldwide campaign for life led by religious and secular leaders across the globe. He concludes the book with a vignette from Islamic culture that speaks nobly to furthering peace and life.

At War With The Wind

At War With The Wind PDF Author: David Sears
Publisher: Citadel Press
ISBN: 9780806528939
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
In the last days of World War II, a new and baffling weapon terrorized the United States Navy in the Pacific. To the sailors who learned to fear them, the body-crashing warriors of Japan were known as "suiciders"; among the Japanese, they were named for a divine wind that once saved the home islands from invasion: kamikaze. Told from the perspective of the men who endured this horrifying tactic, At War with the Wind is the first book to recount in nail-biting detail what it was like to experience an attack by Japanese kamikazes. David Sears, acclaimed author of The Last Epic Naval Battle, draws on personal interviews and unprecedented research to create a narrative of war that is stunning in its vivid re-creations. Born of desperation in the face of overwhelming material superiority, suicide attacks-by aircraft, submarines, small boats, and even manned rocket-boosted gliders-were capable of inflicting catastrophic damage, testing the resolve of officers and sailors as never before. Sears's gripping account focuses on the vessels whose crews experienced the full range of the kamikaze nightmare. From carrier USS St. Lo, the first U.S. Navy vessel sunk by an orchestrated kamikaze attack, to USS Henrico, a transport ship that survived the landings at Normandy only to be sent to the Pacific and struck by suicide planes off Okinawa, and USS Mannert L. Abele, the only vessel sunk by a rocket-boosted piloted glider during the war, these unforgettable stories reveal, as never before, one of the most horrifying and misunderstood chapters of World War II.

Suicide Terror

Suicide Terror PDF Author: Ophir Falk
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470447761
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 429

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Book Description
"Ophir Falk and Henry Morgenstern have compiled a book that should be read by anyone who is serious about winning the war on terror. By painstakingly analyzing the empirical data, they help us better understand the nature of our enemies and why they employ these barbaric tactics. Most crucially, they offer important insights on how terrorism can be effectively confronted and ultimately defeated. In so doing, they have performed an invaluable service for all those who are committed to winning this crucial battle."—Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel FIRSTHAND ACCOUNTS AND ANALYSES FROM FRONTLINE PERSONNEL AND EXPERTS IN THE WAR AGAINST TERROR Based on U.S. and Israeli experiences and detailed interviews with frontline personnel, Suicide Terror enables policymakers, first responders, and students of homeland security to understand and deal with the growing threat of suicide terror. It analyzes recent suicide attacks as well as our current vulnerabilities and high-risk scenarios for future attacks. Following the expert authors' advice, readers learn possible measures to prevent an attack. Moreover, they learn how to prepare for and implement an effective and quick response to minimize casualties and losses in the event of an attack. Following an overview and historical review of suicide terror, the book covers: Global jihad Israel's confrontation with suicide terrorism America's experience with suicide bombings Internationalization of suicide terrorism High-risk scenarios and future trends Methods for confronting suicide terror Medical management of suicide terrorism Using eyewitness accounts, the text re-creates the look and feel of actual terrorism incidents. Detailed case studies help readers get into the minds of suicide terrorists in order to understand how to best prevent and confront these very dangerous threats. This book is a definitive study of suicide terror, synthesizing the experience of well-known Israeli and American experts who have dealt with it firsthand. Anyone responsible for understanding, preventing, and confronting this devastating threat should read this book and consider its recommendations with all seriousness.

My Life Is a Weapon

My Life Is a Weapon PDF Author: Christoph Reuter
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691126151
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
What kind of people are suicide bombers? How do they justify their actions? In this meticulously researched and sensitively written book, journalist Christoph Reuter argues that popular views of these young men and women--as crazed fanatics or brainwashed automatons--fall short of the mark. In many cases these modern-day martyrs are well-educated young adults who turn themselves into human bombs willingly and eagerly--to exact revenge on a more powerful enemy, perceived as both unjust and oppressive. Suicide assassins are determined to make a difference, for once in their lives, no matter what the cost. As Reuter's many interviews with would-be martyrs, their trainers, friends, and relatives reveal, the bombers are motivated more by how they expect to be remembered--as heroic figures--than by religion-infused visions of a blissful life to come. Reuter, who spent eight years researching the book, moves from the broken survivors of the childrens' suicide brigades in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, to the war-torn Lebanon of Hezbollah, to Israeli-occupied Palestinian land, and to regions as disparate as Sri Lanka, Chechnya, and Kurdistan. He tells a disturbing story of the modern globalization of suicide bombing--orchestrated, as his own investigations have helped to establish, by the shadowy Al Qaeda network and unintentionally enabled by wrong-headed policies of Western governments. In a final, hopeful chapter, Reuter points to today's postrevolutionary, post-Khomeini Iran, where a new social environment renounces the horrific practice in the very place where it was enthusiastically embraced just decades ago.