Martyrdom or Suicide has long been a debated phenomenon in the east and west. With the rise of Islamist suicide or martyrdom operations in the Middle East and the rise of such instances in the west more recently one needs to dig deep into the history of when it began and why it began. Robert Baer (Cult of the Suicide Bomber) is a former CIA agent who, after his experiences during the Beirut bombings attempts to find out why suicide bombing is such a popular phenomenon in the contemporary world. He travels to Iran, Lebanon and Palestine to investigate what had caused this chain reaction of Muslim violence. In this segment he introduces, according to him the first suicide bomber: Hossein Fahmideh of Iran and attempts to figure out “Khomeini’s trick”. In the second segment, Rahimpour Azghadi in his show “A Proposal For Tomorrow” attempts to share his view on contemporary martyrdom culture through his experiences in the Iran-Iraq war in which he took part in and as a university professor an authority. At one moment in the video segment, Baer asks a young Iranian if he would repeat what his brother had done through his martyrdom. The boy responds “Without a doubt”. The culture of martyrdom or suicide runs deep in Iran, Palestine and Lebanon for obvious historic reasons. But whether it is ethical or acceptable is similarly debated in these countries.
I am surprised the CIA guy totally ignored the WWll KAMAKAZI PILOTS of Japan in his report..............
Re: Martyrdom or Suicide?
^ good point not to mention such attacks by other nationalities in WW 1 and WW2
a german pilot nearly sank the soviet cruiser Kirov in 1941 in such an attack
Re: Martyrdom or Suicide?
two main differences:
the Jap kamikaze did it out of military spirit and nationalistic fervor; this has happened all through history. Taking espirit de corps to extremes. For example, the Marines' "leave no man behind' where marines will walk into raging battle to pull a colleague out even if it meant certain death
the Islamic jihad type of suicide bombers are probably the first large scale brainwashing effort in the name of religious salvation and post bombing benefits
Just one more creative way man has screwed up himself!