Very chilling stuff - this is how suicide bombers are trained

[Memnoch]

This article appeared in Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper. It was sent to me by a Pakistani friend of mine whose family was affected by the recent Lahore suicide bombings. It's pretty frightening.

I've included my mate's words to give those of us who live in Western countries some perspective of the misery that ordinary people in places like Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan et al face.

RIP to all those who lost their lives. This was a very close call for my family. My Mamoo and his family live in Model Town and their house shook so hard that they thought there was an earthquake. His 9 year old son (my cousin) goes to school 2 mins walk away from where the blast happened but he had a day off today. I wish nothing but the slowest, most painful and most miserable deaths on the people who organise and support (logistically, morally and financially) these attacks. I quote from an article by Pervez Hoodbhoy in Dawn... Quote: A spine-chilling suicide bomber training video, one of the several videos that freely circulate in Pakistan’s tribal areas, offers the beginning of an explanation. About 30 masked fighters are filmed in this video, speaking a language that is not any of Pakistan’s regional languages, Arabic, or Persian. They are training in some barren, mountainous area. One fighter, randomly selected by their leader, proceeds to climb a huge rock, perhaps 100 feet high. He reaches the highest point, and then stands motionless. His arms are outstretched as though on a diving board. On a signal from the leader below, without hesitation, and without closing his eyes, he hurls himself into the void. The camera cuts to the body lying on blood-soaked ground. It slowly pans over the faces of the other masked fighters. Their eyes betray no emotion. A second signal from the leader, and they trot military-style to the body, dig a shallow grave, toss their dead comrade into it, and cover it up. Then, amazingly, they march over the grave several times, chanting Quranic verses. This is astonishing, because to trample a grave is the ultimate mark of disrespect in a Muslim culture. Why sacrifice a human life for a few minutes of footage? English sub-titles reveal that this is obviously a propaganda video. Its message: the group’s fighters have overcome the fear of death, and have willingly surrendered their lives to the group leader, and their individual powers to reason and decide. These scumbags have only one purpose in life, and that is to kill, kill and kill. They have no conscience and no humanity. It is not only the right of the Pakistan people, army and government to mutilate these people, but it is our moral duty to do so.

[Bungleau]

I've been thinking about this since you posted it, Memnoch. It's truly troubling... first, that someone would demand a sacrifice like that; second, that someone would sacrifice himself; and third, that others would go along with it.

That's the unfortunate advantage that the "beast" has in modern civilized society... the beast doesn't care what happens to anyone else, while civilized folks do.

Now, if someone could only figure out how to overcome that...

[Iron Greasel]

Isn't is customary in pretty much every army for individuals to happily lay their lives down for greater good? Well, perhaps not happily, but soldiers are expected to be willing to die defending their nation. Every army has the same purpose, to kill enemies. Only the means vary. I can't say I agree with the "moral duty to mutilate these people"-bit.

[Bungleau]

I believe that's true, but to lay down your life in training camp? To just kill yourself? Not quite what most soldiers sign up for, I believe.

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

The thing most people fail to notice is that, unlike our soldiers, the people who sign up to be suicide bombers (or what have you) have nothing else to live for. Okay? This is it for them. Their lives are so horrid that killing yourself for a cause, even if it's during training, seems like a more noble and meaningful option.

I'm not sympathetic. But I know that to overcome an enemy one must understand the enemy- a philosophy which seems less and less utilized these days, sadly.

[Bungleau]

That's not completely my understanding, and I reserve the right to be very, very wrong. I thought that while there are those who have little else to live for, there are also those who fall under the category of religious zealots, thinking that whatever they suffer in this life will be rewarded in the next.

I do agree, however.... the better you understand your enemy, the better equipped you are to do battle.

[Memnoch]

Originally Posted by Illumina Drathiran'ar The thing most people fail to notice is that, unlike our soldiers, the people who sign up to be suicide bombers (or what have you) have nothing else to live for. Okay? This is it for them. Their lives are so horrid that killing yourself for a cause, even if it's during training, seems like a more noble and meaningful option. I'm not sympathetic. But I know that to overcome an enemy one must understand the enemy- a philosophy which seems less and less utilized these days, sadly.

Not always though, Illumina. The guys who tried to blow up those transatlantic flights last year (the liquid scare which has now made every traveller's life a PITA) were all UK-born, well-educated, with good futures ahead of them. Some were in medical school, while others were engineers. These guys were more misguided than anything.

It comes down to the concept of martyrdom. If someone believes that
to give your life in the service of Islam is to get a free ticket to heaven, then giving your life in this world is just a way to guarantee entrance to the next. It's kind of like those nobles who went to the Holy Land in the Middle Ages to free Jerusalem from the clutches of the "infidel" (ironically at that time it was the Muslims who were educated and enlightened, while Christian Europe was emerging from the Dark Ages). Those nobles had everything, but they gave it all up to become pilgrims because when Pope Urban told them it was their holy duty as Christians to go, they went.