Assignment 4

According to Robert Pape Suicide bombers are not crazy. His research showed that most of the suicide bombers are perfectly fine and showed no psychological abnormalities. Even though many of us may differ in feelings towards the sanity of such terrorists we have to think about these people who are extremely devoted to their government’s ideology. Some religions are actually deeply influenced by politics people who decide to become suicide bombers do it for their beliefs, their land, their religion, and politics. In the book it is argued that terrorism is a form of resistance to a specific government or entity. Terrorist’s specifically suicide bombers usually tend to act for political reasons rather than for religious reasons. Most people think of suicide bombers and terrorists as extremists whose religious affiliations undermine their actions. In reality, according to Pape terrorists are mainly influenced by politics. He gives us the example of the Palestinians who have turned from one ideology to another to try and explain their loss of land to Jewish settlers and military forces in order to for a plan to regain territorial control (296).
In the case of Iraq Mohammed Hafez has shown through his research that even though many terrorists who belong to al-Qaeda claimed or were though to be acting for religious purposes or beliefs. Hafez argues that these suicide acts did not sprout from religious reasons rather they began with the American and British invasion of Iraq (297). I agree that the majority of these terrorist acts derive from politics and the struggle to control and dominate territories. People in Iraq want to conserve their own type of government; they want to have control over their own territory. I believe that anyone would have a problem when a foreign government invades their country to try to force a type of government upon them. I believe that it is human nature to react to such actions even though terrorism is an overly extremist way of opposing to something it is something that I would consider a form of protest.
Terrorism in many cases is an action of last resort when a certain group feels that it has no other alternatives and is desperate to regain power or control. For example in the case of the South African Anti-Apartheid movement, this movement turned to an armed struggle only after many decades of previous protests that were never acknowledged and had little or no impact at all. After a long struggle with no ending results people became frustrated and were forced to turn to a more violent way of protesting. These people were demanding political rights and acting in response to the repression that they have suffered by the state. Seidman mentions in the book that before the movement turned violent they tried peaceful demonstrations such as boycotts, petitions, and civil disobedience similar to those of Gandhi’s and the civil rights movement.
The problem with these peaceful demonstrations was that they in turn provoked violent reactions and many people were killed. As a result the anti-apartheid leaders stated that they would no longer risk the lives of their followers and consequently turned into an armed struggle. This is a perfect example of how such extremist actions can develop from years of repression. Such extreme acts such as guerillas and terrorists can be viewed as either negative or positive. To some these people are considered heroes because they went above and beyond for something that they believed in. Some suicide bombers may be admired for their courage by their people they would consider this person as a fallen hero who gave his life for its people, religion, or government. On the other hand others will consider guerrillas as extreme and non acceptable. We often consider suicide bombers to be psychotic and lunatic and many of us cannot find the logic in terrorist acts such as suicide missions.
I do agree that terrorism is a form of extremist protest because these people are acting in response to repression or something that they would like to see changed. I do not agree with any type of armed warfare or terrorism as a form of repression. What I can say is that these people have their own reasons as to why they act in such extremist and radical ways. If a group of people have suffered repression under a regime or government they are likely to react. Many also react out of revenge or retaliation and ultimately act upon those feelings. In the case of the Anti-Apartheid movement, decades of peaceful protesting amounted to nothing. They were unable to accomplish their desired changes and were forced to use a more extremist approach. The United States and Britain going into Iraq to impose a new kind of government for that country is problematic because people will retaliate with anger because they no longer have control over their own country. Terrorism is a form of protest regardless of how violent or immoral it has the some of the same basic elements of regular protesting.