Motivations for a Terrorsit Organization

Terrorist organizations employ a variety of methods to inflict damage on their

enemies. Some of the methods that have been successfully deployed by terrorists groups

include: guerrilla warfare, roadside bombs, LEDs, and suicide bombing. Among these

methods, suicide bombing has proven to be the most effective method for terrorist

organizations to employ and achieve their goals. Furthermore, in his book, Knights Under the

Prophet’s Banner, Zawahiri argues that “the method of martyrdom operations is the most

successful way of inflicting damage against the proponent and the least costly to the

mujahideen in casualties.” The goals of this essay is to provide an understanding into the

factors that lead to terrorist organizations employing suicide bombing as a tactic as opposed

to other methods, and argue that though religion is a crucial element in the making of a

suicide bomber, religion is not the only element that is involved. There are other elements

like nationalism that come into play and different groups have different goals, therefore,

context is key. To better illustrate this point, this essay will elaborate on terrorist groups such

as the PKK and the LTTE who are not motivated by religion, rather, they are motivated by

nationalism and compare them to groups to groups like al-Qaeda, and Hamas who use

religion to justify their means. Finally, to better support the paper’s argument, this essay will

use evidence and references from journal articles written by terrorists experts like: Robert

Pape, Bruce Hoffman, and Mia Bloom.

Naturally, sceptics would ask; how could suicide bombing be more successful and

effective when compared with other methods which are technologically more sophisticated?

Th...

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...eligion alone is the cause for

people wanting to become suicide terrorists. Other elements include; nationalism, social

prestige, friendship, deep anger, humiliation, and retribution. However, all of the above is

influenced by the anger at the presence of foreign combat troops who are in their homeland.

Suicide terrorism is phenomenon that did not generate much publicity or analysis by many

intelligence agencies around the globe because until recently, there was a vacuum of

information about what the motives behind suicide terrorism. As Hoffman concludes, perhaps

most important, coldly efficient bombings tear at the fabric of trust that holds societies

together. All these reasons doubtless account for the spread of suicide terrorism from the

Middle East to Sri Lanka and Turkey, Argentina and Chechnya, Russia and Algeria—and to

the United States.