LAT - Suicide Attacks Rising Rapidly

[Starfury]

<snip>

Suicide attacks outpaced car bombings almost 2-to-1 in May, according to figures compiled by the U.S. military, The Times and other media outlets. In April, there were 69 suicide attacks, more than in the entire year preceding the June 28, 2004, hand-over of sovereignty.

<snip>

The frequency of suicide bombings here is unprecedented, exceeding that of Palestinian attacks against Israel and of other militant insurgencies, such as the Chechen rebellion in Russia. Baghdad saw five suicide bombings in a six-hour span Sunday.

<snip>

U.S. officials and Iraqi analysts say the insurgents' resources are increasing on several fronts: money to buy vehicles and explosives, expertise in wiring car and human bombs and intelligence leaks that help them target U.S. and Iraqi forces.

<snip>

Coalition officials acknowledge, however, that the numbers show an Iraqi-dominated insurgency. Fewer than 5% of those killed or captured were foreigners, one official noted. He also described the influx from abroad as making up a "very, very small part" of the estimated 12,000 to 20,000 insurgents.

<rest snipped>

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-bombers2jun02,0,4779899.story

[Erika]

1. Don't Worry. Be Happy.

Bush says that's a good sign we are winning. You haven't learned Bushspeak yet?

[knowbody0]

2. worrying has been disassembled

[DesEtoiles]

3. Did the explosives come from Al Qa Qaa?

[tech3149]

4. No, that could never be

That HEX/RDX just evaporated, or was taken to Syria, or the devil wanted fireworks for his minions.

WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA?

[Newsjock]

5. Looks like we've turned another corner

Why does the Los Angeles Times hate America? :P

[Roy]

6. Suicide Bombs Don't Kill People.....

err.. ahh.. err.. forget it...

[DeepModem Mom]

7. kick

[bemildred]

8. Who could have predicted this?

A History of Terror
by Adam Young
(Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2002)

---


Let's recount some highlights of the last half-century of terror in light of U.S. foreign policy:

* November 1, 1950: Puerto Rican nationalists attempt to assassinate President Truman. In 1954, the House of Representatives would be sprayed with gunfire, wounding five congressmen. In 1973 and again in 1974, bombs would be set off in New York City. In 1975, the FALN would plant bombs in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., killing several people and wounding dozens.
* June 5, 1968: Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian immigrant who regarded RFK as a collaborator with Israel.
* March 1971: The U.S. Senate is bombed again. Suspected this time are opponents of the Vietnam fiasco.
* November 4, 1979: Supporters of the Ayatollah Khomeini storm the U.S. embassy in Teheran in anger at the longtime U.S. support for the Shah's despotic regime. It would not be until two years later that the hostages would be freed.
* December 1979: A mob of Iranians burns down the U.S. embassy in Tripoli, Libya. Iranian-sponsored terrorism against the United States is promoted as a just cause in retaliation for U.S. support for the Shah and Israel.
* April 8, 1983: The Iranian-backed Hezbollah bombs the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. The attack kills 17 Americans. All attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon around this time are in retaliation for the U.S. openly choosing sides, supporting the Christian government against the Muslim militias by training and arming the Lebanese National Army (the LNA). U.S. Marines even began patrolling with the LNA, and the U.S. Navy and Marines began shelling the Muslims to support the LNA.
* October 23, 1983: A suicide truck-bomber from Hezbollah attacks the U.S. embassy and destroys the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 290 people and wounding 200 more. The U.S. Marines soon withdraw from Beirut. A Hezbollah spokesman brags that it took only two "martyrs" to force the Marines out of Lebanon: one who blew up the embassy, and the other who drove the truck that destroyed the Marine barracks. In September 1984, Hezbollah would bomb the U.S. embassy annex in East Beirut, killing 23 people and wounding four Marine guards. During the 1980s, Hezbollah would kidnap 19 American diplomats, educators, businessmen, clergy, journalists, and military personnel, and kill at least four.
* March 1986: The largest peacetime American naval armada ever assembled sails across the "line of death," which, according to Khadafy, marks Libyan territorial waters in the Gulf of Sidra. Fulfilling the predictions of U.S. defense analysts, he shoots off missiles at the fleet. U.S. forces then destroy a missile site and three Libyan naval craft. In retaliation, Khadafy sponsors the bombing on April 5, 1986, of the La Belle nightclub in West Berlin, which killed an American soldier and a Turkish woman. On April 15, 1986 (two weeks after the "line of death" incident in late March), the U.S. retaliates for the La Belle bombing with air strikes against Libya.

---

http://www.mises.org/fullstory.aspx?control=887

[bemildred]

9. Rational Fanatics

October 23, 1983, was one of the most horrific days in the history of modern terrorism. Two massive explosions destroyed the barracks of the U.S. and French contingents of the multinational peacekeeping force in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 American servicemen and 58 French paratroopers. Both explosions were carried out by Muslim extremists who drove to the heart of the target area and detonated bombs with no intention of escaping. Subsequent suicide attacks against Israeli and U.S. targets in Lebanon and Kuwait made it clear that a new type of killing had entered the repertoire of modern terrorism: a suicide operation in which the success of the attack depends on the death of the perpetrator.

This tactic stunned security experts. Two centuries of experience suggested that terrorists, though ready to risk their lives, wished to live after the terrorist act in order to benefit from its accomplishments. But this new terrorism defied that belief. It seemed qualitatively different, appearing almost supernatural, extremely lethal, and impossible to stop. Within six months, French and U.S. Presidents François Mitterrand and Ronald Reagan pulled their troops out of Lebanon-a tacit admission that the new terrorism rendered all known counterterrorist measures useless. Government officials erected concrete barriers around the White House and sealed the Pentagon's underground bus tunnels. Nobody was reassured. As Time magazine skeptically observed in 1983: "No security expert thinks such defensive measures will stop a determined Islamic terrorist who expects to join Allah by killing some Americans."

Whereas the press lost no time in labeling these bombers irrational zealots, terrorism specialists offered a more nuanced appraisal, arguing that suicide terrorism has inherent tactical advantages over "conventional" terrorism: It is a simple and low-cost operation (requiring no escape routes or complicated rescue operations); it guarantees mass casualties and extensive damage (since the suicide bomber can choose the exact time, location, and circumstances of the attack); there is no fear that interrogated terrorists will surrender important information (because their deaths are certain); and it has an immense impact on the public and the media (due to the overwhelming sense of helplessness). Dr. Ramadan Shalah, secretary- general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, summarized the chilling logic of the new terror tactic: "Our enemy possesses the most sophisticated weapons in the world and its army is trained to a very high standard. . . . We have nothing with which to repel killing and thuggery against us except the weapon of martyrdom. It is easy and costs us only our lives. . . human bombs cannot be defeated, not even by nuclear bombs."

The prevalence of suicide terrorism during the last two decades testifies to its gruesome effectiveness . It has formed a vital part of several terror campaigns, including Hezbollah's successful operation against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the mid-1980s, the 1994-96 Hamas bus bombings aimed at stopping the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and the 1995-99 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) struggle against Turkey. The formation of special suicide units within the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) army in Sri Lanka has added an atrocious dimension to the civil war on that devastated island. In addition to killing hundreds of civilians, soldiers, and high-ranking officers since 1987, LTTE suicide terrorists have assassinated two heads of state: Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India in 1991 and President Ranasinghe Premadasa of Sri Lanka in 1993. Sri Lanka's current president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, recently lost sight in one eye following an assassination attempt that killed at least 24 people. The simultaneous 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which took the lives of nearly 300 civilians, were a brutal reprise of the 1983 tragedies in Lebanon.

http://www.bradynet.com/bbs/nonem/100026-0.html