tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post665732278944058259..comments2007-09-26T20:41:47.126+01:00Matt Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08062352280843955046noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-49328567467214163592007-09-26T20:41:00.000+01:002007-09-26T20:41:00.000+01:002007-09-26T20:41:00.000+01:00

Matt,You're really giving Suicide Bombing Inc the hard sell. Do you have shares? You could save the American taxpayer billions that they pay to Israel. Why bother with the latest military technology at vast expense, when Israel could deploy its religious fanatics in a suicide bomb playoff with the Palestinians?

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-63606816754982623452007-09-26T16:09:00.000+01:002007-09-26T16:09:00.000+01:002007-09-26T16:09:00.000+01:00

As Ario points out, suicide-bombers are clearly "weapons" of choice rather than necessity - as plenty of lesser funded groups don't use them.Their attraction lies, again as Ario points out, in the psychological affect: Each suicide-bomber is a statement that the group (or at least those they recruit for these acts) values nothing - including their own lives - more than victory. That kind of

Matt Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08062352280843955046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-35581540807212736632007-09-26T14:47:00.000+01:002007-09-26T14:47:00.000+01:002007-09-26T14:47:00.000+01:00

The means used by the Palestinian resistance movements are commensurate with their resources. I'm sure they'd have no objection to using guided missiles, million dollar planes, tank battalions and all the military equipment that Israel can use. They use more primitive means because that's what they have available. Simple point. The military budget of Israel is 7.7 billion. What is the military

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-27764224855032001882007-09-26T09:43:00.000+01:002007-09-26T09:43:00.000+01:002007-09-26T09:43:00.000+01:00

I hope you don't mind me chipping in. But leaving the hot potato of religion aside, isn't the problem that potential suicide bombers move in an environment in which such an act is socially acceptable *and* in some interpretations of the prevailing ideology encouraged? The other thing that springs to mind is that it's exactly that 'primitiveness' - or better: that act of extreme nihilism - that

Arionoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-57139104070493981492007-09-26T01:22:00.000+01:002007-09-26T01:22:00.000+01:002007-09-26T01:22:00.000+01:00

How Hamas compares with Israel is beside the point, it's how it compares to other terrorist groups that's important - and there are many which, despite lacking strong financial backers - don't resort to suicide-bombing. This, along with the statements of suicide-bombers and those around them, tends to suggest that there are other factors at work - with religion being an important one.(This isn't

Matt Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08062352280843955046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-10336649614167392822007-09-25T22:36:00.000+01:002007-09-25T22:36:00.000+01:002007-09-25T22:36:00.000+01:00

The military budget of Israel is $7.7 billion dollars. Israel is backed by the United States with a $500 billion military budget.Palestine has no army, airforce or navy and zero military budget. For this very obvious reason, opposition forces can only use the cheapest means of armed force against Israel.

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-68060815685028787642007-09-24T21:29:00.000+01:002007-09-24T21:29:00.000+01:002007-09-24T21:29:00.000+01:00

How they compare with Israel is irrelevant - my point is that there's no correlation between economic standing and willingness to use suicide-bombers.With financial backers in countries like Saudi Arabia, Al-Qaeda - one of the most prominent groups to utilise the tactic - are probably one of the best funded.

Matt Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08062352280843955046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-7428238050419038502007-09-24T21:01:00.000+01:002007-09-24T21:01:00.000+01:002007-09-24T21:01:00.000+01:00

Matt,I really don't think the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation leafs through a range of options from nuclear attack through multi-billion dollar coventional means and finally settles on suicide attacks and dud Khassam rockets for some unintelligible love of masochistic impotence. My guess is that they don't have the resources to do any 'better'. They are poverty-stricken.But maybe you

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-31227100874722806852007-09-24T11:51:00.000+01:002007-09-24T11:51:00.000+01:002007-09-24T11:51:00.000+01:00

Not well-off enough to have a single tank, helicopter or plane.I think they probably are... there just wouldn't be much point. The reason for using primitive weaponry, like the suicide bomb, is very obviously the lack of anything 'better'.Just as with countries though, there's no correlation between the economic status of a terrorist group and its tendency to use suicide-bombers.

Matt Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08062352280843955046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-67559958562863831302007-09-24T00:24:00.000+01:002007-09-24T00:24:00.000+01:002007-09-24T00:24:00.000+01:00

"groups like Hamas and Al-Qaeda (groups which seem to use suicide-bombing the most) are actually pretty well off"Not 'well-off' enough to have thousands of nuclear warheads. Not well-off enough to have a single tank, helicopter or plane. The reason for using primitive weaponry, like the suicide bomb, is very obviously the lack of anything 'better'.

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-37689316093479264912007-09-23T23:24:00.000+01:002007-09-23T23:24:00.000+01:002007-09-23T23:24:00.000+01:00

Well... in terrorist terms, groups like Hamas and Al-Qaeda (groups which seem to use suicide-bombing the most) are actually pretty well off - with wealthy supporters in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Plenty of other small scale groups seem to have got by without it. Looking at Iraq, when it comes to targeting coalition forces, groups tend to prefer devices such as IEDs, as I imagine it's

Matt Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08062352280843955046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-33239350658324779482007-09-23T18:34:00.000+01:002007-09-23T18:34:00.000+01:002007-09-23T18:34:00.000+01:00

Matt,You notice it was 'country' in inverted commas. Suicide bombing is a weapon of the poor. The Taleban, Hamas,the Iraqi opposition are poor in resources.

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-64296288862543127452007-09-23T15:26:00.000+01:002007-09-23T15:26:00.000+01:002007-09-23T15:26:00.000+01:00

The poverty referred to was not that of the individual, but of the 'country'.The problem with this hypothesis is that there's little correlation between per capita GDP and the amount of suicide bombers a country produces. Besides, it's difficult to see how suicide bombers in countries like Iraq believe blowing up queues of people looking for work and marketplaces will improve the economic

Matt Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08062352280843955046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-38319385256622610642007-09-23T15:05:00.000+01:002007-09-23T15:05:00.000+01:002007-09-23T15:05:00.000+01:00

"they're only murderous psychopaths because they're poor" line of argument is incredibly weak. Matt MurrellThe poverty referred to was not that of the individual, but of the 'country'. You, personally, may be relatively rich (compared to the dollar a day poor in poor countries) but it is not your personal net worth which determines the UK's ability to muster hi-tech means of slaughter against

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-3462285894103536472007-09-23T12:42:00.000+01:002007-09-23T12:42:00.000+01:002007-09-23T12:42:00.000+01:00

Anon,Given that most of the prominent suicide bombers have been relatively well off, the "they're only murderous psychopaths because they're poor" line of argument is incredibly weak.

Matt Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08062352280843955046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-27324124623973473032007-09-22T23:23:00.000+01:002007-09-22T23:23:00.000+01:002007-09-22T23:23:00.000+01:00

"The average C of E member would be unlikely to blow himself up"Why would he do that when Britain has a professional army to destroy foreigners, with its teams of padres to assure them that they're doing the right thing? If Islamists were supported by more developed economies, they would blow us away with perfect sangfroid, with fanaticism not on display.

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-24381477124938084002007-09-22T16:21:00.000+01:002007-09-22T16:21:00.000+01:002007-09-22T16:21:00.000+01:00

Matt,Sometimes you confuse me as to whether you really are an unbeliever. ;-)

Just Thinkinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12470974254535487473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-48330749821521540642007-09-22T13:25:00.000+01:002007-09-22T13:25:00.000+01:002007-09-22T13:25:00.000+01:00

Thanks, JT.how do you read so much and write about what you're reading?I have a degree in English - about the only skill those three years of studying left me with is the ability to read quickly and form an opinion on it. (of course, it helps that these books were on subjects we've been discussing over at ISOHP, so I had a number of pre-formed opinions to fall back on.)Do people really say that?

Matt Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08062352280843955046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-55189497845754202212007-09-22T13:04:00.000+01:002007-09-22T13:04:00.000+01:002007-09-22T13:04:00.000+01:00

Matt,I admire you for your willingness to keep thinking. Although, I'm finding that those of us who think cannot help but keep thinking and searching. The brain has a mind of its own. ;) But even so, how do you read so much and write about what you're reading? Not only am I a slow reader, it takes so much effort for me just to write this little comment. (with my obsessive edit, re-edit thing)

Just Thinkinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12470974254535487473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-2983124726933347642007-09-22T12:49:00.000+01:002007-09-22T12:49:00.000+01:002007-09-22T12:49:00.000+01:00

Oops. Thanks for pointing that out.

Matt Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08062352280843955046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17782301.post-81814365516564644862007-09-21T22:27:00.000+01:002007-09-21T22:27:00.000+01:002007-09-21T22:27:00.000+01:00

Annoyingly, he calls himself John Humphrys.

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com