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Root Causes of Terrorism Essay Fieldman and Shapir (2004) noted that â€Å"some of the latest figures involving international suicide terrorists, their actions and the outcome of these actions, mentioning that there were eleven suicide attacks in Chechnya since 2003 involving fifteen terrorists, eleven of which are women. Their actions killing 200 and sixty one suicide attacks until June 2004 in Iraq involving seventy nine suicide terrorists that killed 840 people, and that suicide terrorism is significant in Israeli-Palestinian conflict as anti-Israel suicide attacks were numbered to 26 2003 to June 2004 (Fieldman, Shapir, 2004, p. 46). † This is proof of one of the many similar characteristics and nature of these different suicide terrorist groups: the measure and extent of their resolve. â€Å"In other areas around the world, fifty-four terrorists identified with Al Qaeda or its affiliated took part in nineteen suicide attacks in which over 280 people were killed. Overall, more than 170 suicide terrorists carried out 117 suicide attacks, a figure that does not include the numerous frustrated suicide attacks, mostly but not exclusively in Israel (Feldman, Shapir, 2004, p. 46). † Suicide terrorist groups around the world and the shared parallelism in management, nature and characteristics Despite the differences present between different suicide terrorist groups operating in different parts of the world, there is a noticeable set of parallelisms that render each group closely similar with one another, creating in a certain degree a sense of uniformity in the manner by which suicide terrorist groups are being managed, run and operated by its leaders. Suicide terrorist groups often share the same set of motivation that allows for the effective management of the personality and overall state of being of its suicide terrorists; they also share nearly the same M. O. , as well as target preferences and the penchant for an attack the lethality of which is guaranteed to extend to a large number of people victimized by the attack; politically, the goals of suicide terrorist groups (the creation of pressure to remove usurpers and modern day colonial rulers and exercise genuine governance and sovereignty over their own lands) are radically aligned with each other. Suicide terrorists and the personality management skill of its leaders An important aspect of suicide terrorism and of the suicide terrorists groups that needs to be discussed is the ‘management’ of these particular individuals. Because the tasks of suicide terrorists are not similar to any other ordinary tasks since their job has a significant level of certainty of death and the finality of life in it, leaders of either small, independent terrorist cells or national level commanders of an umbrella organization for terrorist group (or any leadership or management-level individual belonging to a terrorist group that has in its method of operation suicidal attacks) should have an intensive knowledge on how suicide terrorists should be handled and how each aspect of the suicide terrorist’s personality – emotional, psychological, spiritual, mental and physical – is ‘managed’. Recruiting suicide terrorist may appear either easy or difficult depending on the person who holds the particular opinion. People who see how emotional, psychological and other types motivation easily convinces a prospective suicide bomber to take on a mission and end his/her life for something which the suicide terrorist believes is worth it will think that all leaders need to do is manipulate people into becoming suicide terrorists by using pressure points to which the prospective recruit will easily yield or bend. Religion and militant fanaticism is one of the popular notions that people used to believe as the main reason for the recruitment of suicide bombers. There are those who believe that patriotism or the love for the country is the key motivation for suicide terrorists, while others, who recruit from areas which are economically and financially depressed, pay money or promise a better life for the family that they will leave behind. There are some reported cases of blackmail or the use of threat, as well as the presence of pressure coming from political groups to which a person belongs to, or the pressure of socially-shared political ideology that compels members to undertake such tasks. â€Å"Men become suicide terrorists in extraordinary cases, and each case requires its own explanation. There are some indirect data to suggest that a psychological trauma is an obligatory component. The trauma should be related not only to the death of relatives and/or personal threat to life but also to humiliation, personal but most particularly to a perception of national dignity (Wessely, Krasnov, 2006, p. 112). † Regardless of the particular motivation at play in a particular organization in a particular situation (since the motivation of suicide terrorists around the world varies in detail from one another in different occasions), the important thing that this illustrates is the role of effective management of the terrorist group leaders of its own suicide terrorist squads. They seldom retreat or abort missions because of last minute realizations, but this does not mean that they are crazy – professional researchers and analysts simply believes that the motivation and pressure existing is too much that it is impossible to dissuade suicide terrorists from undertaking their tasks of taking not just their lives, but that of other people as well. â€Å"Although research indicates that individual suicide attackers make choices and are not technically crazy, according to experts they are often manipulated by the pressures and belief structures of the group. Because of this, it is important to study the role of the organization in the phenomenon (Linden, 2002, p. 82). † The political significance, role and impact of suicide terrorist groups – The nature of the different suicide terrorist groups around the world is reflected in how they assert and create political significance for their group. Through their efforts towards political significance, observers can identify the essence of these groups, enumerate them and in the process allow the creation of paradigms from which terrorist groups are the nature of future terrorists groups are characterized. This aspect shows the core nature of suicide terrorist groups – a group of individuals that resorted to the use of lethal force and deadly weapon in the effort to effect change in the political landscape, a band of radical fighters who use the lives of innocent individuals as leverage to gain such power and influence, people who are motivated by different things (but nonetheless equally highly motivated, enough to die and to kill), these are the people who rely on scare and fear tactics to create pressure. Their actions create pressure – towards their enemies and sometimes towards themselves when the end product of an attack backfires and becomes a cause of problem for terrorist groups themselves – while at the same time allowing for the style and personality of this particular group to change over time, altering as well the manner by which the world responds and reacts to terrorism, particularly to suicide terrorists and their actions. â€Å"Al Qaeda’s coordinated multiple suicide airborne attacks aimed at destroying three outstanding US landmark targets the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, and Congress on September 11, 2001, demonstrated the escalating terrorist threat posed to civilian and military infrastructure With 9/11, the worst terrorist attack ever, the threshold for terrorism world-wide increased. Terrorism has moved from tactical to a strategic threat, prompting governments to invest unprecedented resources both in pre-empting terrorist attacks and in managing mass casualty attacks (Steven, Gunaratna, 2004, p. 2). † Because of the group’s political significance, analysts now grow more observant towards the efficiency by which suicide terrorist group leaders handle the organizations to make protracted and long battles like the ones being fought by terrorist group possible and sustainable over the years and over the number of suicide bombers lost and needs to be replaced time and again. Nature of suicide terrorism: political strategy versus religious undertaking – One of the most common and distorted ideas about suicide terrorism is that it is an act resulting from radical Islamist beliefs or the manifestation of the will of certain religious beliefs that glorify and moralize the use of lethal force and the taking of innocent lives. Historians clear out the confusion in this particular aspect of the nature of suicide terrorist groups around the world: historians and analysts believe that religious will is not the motivation of suicide terrorist groups; rather, it is the means by which strategic political actions are justified to the people and most especially to the suicide terrorists. For actions that carry with it severe moral stigma, there is a need for the presence of moral righteousness for the undertaking to be enacted without doubt, and here, religious and other non-political aspect of the set of beliefs comes into play; sometimes, suicide bombers are not even fully aware of the political repercussions of his/her actions nor the real political reasons why such act is necessary; for the suicide terrorist, it is enough that there is a sufficient reason wherein he can directly relate to and understand. â€Å"Suicide terrorist attacks are not so much driven by religion as by a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland. From Lebanon to Sri Lanka to Chechnya to Kashmir to the West Bank, every major suicide terrorist campaign over 95 percent of all incidents has had as its central objective to compel a democratic state to withdraw (LeMay, 2006, p. 252). † Religion is the balm that soothes the wounds and calms the fears of suicide bombers. At this level, the understanding and appreciation of goals is still shared by most since everyone understands and experiences the state of spirituality and religious belief necessary to make religion a powerful influence and motivation for the suicide bomber. â€Å"Other Muslims would argue the Koran supports actions of suicide bombers. These latter groups include radical and/or militant terrorist organizations with which we are familiar (Williams, Waltrip, 2004, p. 139). † The leader might not bother the suicide bomber/terrorist with the political complexities of such actions since this usually requires a level of mental capability similar to that of the learned and the educated, and not every suicide terrorist that pulls plunges himself/herself and the bomb inside a crowded place are educated, or did not have the chance to be one. â€Å"The suicide terrorist no longer thinks; he finds his inspiration and refuge in prayer, as outlined in Mohammad Atta’s letter to his comrades before the attack of September 11, 2001. There should be a ritual of washing and shaving, and the night is to be spent in prayer trying to forget the world. Then there should be further prayers, and after this Atta advises the others, ‘Smile and feel secure. For God is with the believers and the angels are guarding him without him feeling it. ’ We do not know, however, whether all or any of the suicide bombers did indeed spend the last night praying; some reportedly spent it in a bar or a night club (Laquer, 2003, p. 95). † References Bjorgo, Tore (December 2005). Root Causes of Terrorism: Myths, Reality and Ways Forward. Taylor Francis, Inc.