Suicide bombingIslamic suicide bombing in historical perspective
The suicide bombing campaign by al Qaeda and its Sunni Arab allies in Iraq is second only to the Japanese Kamikaze campaign during the closing stages of the Second World in the number of suicide bombers it employed; the Islamic suicide bombers, though, managed to kill more people; the Kamikaze sank 34 U.A. and Allied ships and damage 368 others; about 4,900 Allied sailors died; the Islamic suicide bombers in Iraq killed 216 U.S. military personnel, 2,500 Iraqi troops and police, and more than 10,000 Iraqi civilian
Japanese Kamikaze attack // Source: aviationtrivia.net
Suicide bombing continues to be the most popular weapon among Islamic terrorists, but it is a much overrated tool. For example, al Qaeda, and their Sunni Arab allies in Iraq, made a major recruiting effort for suicide bombers. Nearly 2,000 men, and a few women, volunteered (including many who were coerced or deceived) to make attacks. About 90 percent of the attacks were against Iraqi civilians or security personnel. The attacks against Americans killed 216 U.S. military personnel. There were three times as many attacks against Iraqi troops and police, and many more casualties (more than 2,500 dead). Most of the suicide bomber attacks were against civilians, and more than 10,000 were killed.
Strategy Page reports that this effort has become the second largest suicide attack campaign in the last seventy years or so. The largest was the Japanese use of suicide pilots, in air attacks on the U.S. Navy (and some allied ships) during the later stages of the Second World War. Some 2,800 suicide pilots died. They managed to sink 34 ships and damage 368 others. About 4,900 sailors died. Note that only about 14 percent of the Kamikaze pilots managed to complete their mission: 86 percent of the Kamikaze pilots were downed by U.S. fighters and anti-aircraft fire before they could carry out their suicide mission. The Kamikaze always attacked military targets, while the suicide bombers tended to avoid anyone who could shoot back.
With both the Kamikazes and Islamic suicide bombers, the idea was to demoralize the opponent, and force an end to the conflict, or at least reduce the extent of the attacker’s defeat. The tactic failed in both cases, although both Kamikazes and Islamic “martyrs” are admired for their courage. Strategy Page notes that in the case of the Islamic suicide bombers, the tactics backfired in that the civilian population, which was getting hurt the most, turned on the terrorists. The many attacks on Iraqi security forces were supposed to demoralize them, but that, by-and-large, did not work. The same story is playing out in Afghanistan, as it did in other countries where the Islamic Kamikaze weapon was employed.
