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10A089
The Suicide Weapon
by Jim Davies, 12/1/2010
As noted in Monday's ZGBlog, it's with us. Almost daily, some deluded youth ends his life in the hope of ending also those of several others, whom he has been taught to believe deserve to die. If any of them ever gets his hands on a suitcase nuke, the outlook for our species is dim. Perhaps there were some, but I can't recall a war in which this weapon was used, prior to the 20th Century. In history there have been many fighters persuaded to risk their lives, sometimes heavily, for the ideal they had been trained to adopt; but always before, that risk was of less than 100%. Then in 1945, subjects of the divine emperor of Japan deliberately took a swig of Sake, climbed aboard their bomb-laden Zeros, and flew them at the nearest US warship. Not many got through the AA barrage, but those who did caused fearful damage. Thus did the word "kamikaze" migrate from their language to ours. It's worth trying to understand the bizarre motivation of the people forming this weapon - for it will matter, a lot. They have in common a deep belief in the ideal for which they will die. We must note that a dedicated US Marine believes in "God, Country, Corps, Unit" and is often willing bravely to volunteer when called upon to perform some especially dangerous mission, from which there's a strong chance of not returning. So far, though, Marine commanders have not asked for volunteers for one that will be certainly fatal. If they ever did, though: wouldn't they get a strong response? - I think so. The difference is marginal. So did those kamikaze pilots in the Japanese air force volunteer in 1945 to turn the tide of war, to defend their emperor, who (they had been taught) was divine. Such a concept is ridiculous, of course; but is it much more so than "God, Country, Corps, Unit"? - can anyone actually define those four terms?
Islamic suicide bombers have been trained for all their student lives to accept something similar; that many governing Muslim countries have betrayed the faith, and proper theocracies need to be restored, and its enemies like the Great and Little Satans (the US and Israel) need to be humbled, and that this is their mission in life. Carnal rewards will instantly follow in heaven, and their names will be written in the eternal register of martyrs. Pick your religion, fabricate your myth, whatever works. And so they kill, and die. There's no defense; once launched, this human missile will deliver its destruction unless a net happens to catch him, and some will always get through nets, it's a numbers game. The only hope - and it's a big one - is to influence his handlers, the ones who launch him. They have a formidable weapon in their arsenal, but its supply in not infinite; so they must use them sparingly, for maximum effect in seeking their objectives. Here's where a zero-government America would make such a vast difference. We are in their sights today because government exists and operates a foreign policy that favors their major enemy, the State of Israel (the Little Satan.) Take that away, you take away their motive. They cannot earn the admiration of potential supporters by hitting an enemy that is no longer an enemy. More yet: I believe that when Americans stop working for our government (so causing its evaporation) our example will be followed, worldwide; not all at once, but successively. And when there's no government for the Islamists to take over, their movement will necessarily fizzle; not just Americans, but everyone worldwide will become safe from their malevolence. |
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