Of all the stuff that has happened over here in the passed
four months, there’s one thing I can’t comprehend.
And that’s the age of a suicide bomber who drove his car
into a convoy of S.C. National Guard troops near the gates of Camp Phoenix.
Forensics indicated that the attacker was a
13-to-14-year-old boy, said Brig. Gen. Bob Livingston, commander of Guard’s 218th
Brigade Combat Team and Task Force Phoenix.
That estimation, as I understand, was based on an
examination of body parts, the largest of which was the child’s right forearm.
Investigators found it on the roof of a pharmacy a few hundred yards from the
blast.
The incident happened a month ago and four S.C. troops were
injured. Three returned to duty and the fourth had to be evacuated to the military
hospital in Germany. He’s now at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
The blast killed two people – the bomber and a truck driver.
I have a hard time reconciling is how any organization could
be so sick, so depraved, so cowardly to let a child blow himself up in order to
do its killing.
What got me thinking about the attack again was another
bombing incident. This one happened Friday morning at the Kabul airport, about
three miles from Camp Phoenix, where I’m based.
The blast killed two Afghan soldiers and wounded a dozen
people. Press reports didn’t mention the bomber, but we can assume he or she
died, too.
The reports added
that the Taliban, taking a page from insurgent tactics in Iraq, is relying on
the suicide attacks and roadside bombs to kill Afghan and foreign troops.
The latest attack prompted me to do a little Googling. While
most of us might wonder what prompts someone – whether they’re 14 or 40 – to
turn themselves into a human bomb, there has been plenty of research on the
subject.
Called “suicide terrorism” by the academicians, the tactic
has grown dramatically in the past five years, largely the result of the war in
Iraq.
Here’s an excerpt from a story published by the University
of Texas. It’s based on the research of a faculty member:
"From a cost-benefit perspective, suicide terrorism
is quite effective,” said Dr. Ami Pedahzur, associate professor of government
at The University of Texas at Austin and a terrorism expert. “A suicide bomber
with an explosives belt kills on average four times as many people as an attack
with a delayed detonation device or a shooting attack.”
In fact, data from the U.S. State Department show that
while only three percent of all terrorist incidents in the world employ suicide
bombers, these attacks account for 48 percent of all fatalities.
The success rate is high because the bomb is, in effect,
a “smart bomb” that can modify the exact location and timing of attack based on
a real-time assessment of the target. In Haifa, Israel, for instance, a suicide
bomber stopped from entering a busy shopping mall simply walked 100 yards up a
hill from the blockade and detonated himself in a popular, congested restaurant
killing 15 people….
“People’s initial reaction to a suicide terrorist is to
think the person is crazy or a religious zealot, but that’s not the case,” said
Pedahzur, who just released a book on suicide terrorism. “Most suicide bombers
see themselves as soldiers carrying out a mission to inflict damage on the
enemy.
The UT article added:
While the use of suicide terrorism can be traced back as
far as the 11th century, the rise of this tactic in modern times can be traced
to Lebanon and Iran in the 1980s. While this tactic spread to groups east and
south of these countries, it did not move west. This migration has to do with a
number of preconditions that must exist to aid suicide terrorism.
“In order for suicide terrorism to be a viable
alternative, there must be a culture that supports, even glorifies, death, a
sense of supreme hopelessness and an asymmetrical alignment of forces where a
small group is confronting a much larger and more powerful force,” explained
Pedahzur.
In a community that either is, or perceives itself to be,
oppressed by the reigning powers and where an improvement in the situation
seems impossible, dying in a suicide attack is seen as an honorable way to help
one’s community while ensuring eternal salvation.
Here’s the hyperlink if you want to read more:
http://www.utexas.edu/features/2006/terrorism/
So it’s possible that the youngster who attacked
S.C. troops saw himself as a soldier of the Taliban cause.
But that doesn’t square with what I’ve read and have been
told about Afghan culture. And that is Afghans do not support suicide tactics.
Indeed, most Afghans denounce the Taliban.
Just maybe the boy had no choice. After all, a growing
problem in this country is drug addiction among the young.
Back in June I went on a foot patrol with S.C. troops
through a nearby village. On our way back to Camp Phoenix, we stopped at a
factory ruins.
The soldiers believed teenagers from the neighboring
villages were hiding in the ruins and doing drugs.
Where did the kids get their drugs? Most likely from the
Taliban.
The Taliban gets the kids hooked and then forces them to
attack foreign and Afghan troops – and kill themselves in the process.
Lt. Plowden Dickson, of Charleston, said the Taliban
approach is simple.
“If I got you hooked on a substance, I can convince you to
put a bomb over there.”
Staff writer Chuck Crumbo is embedded with the S.C. National Guard's 218th Brigade Combat Team.
