DELIBERATE DEATH: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE NATURE OF SUICIDE ATTACKS by Michael Patrick Echemendia B.A., Wofford College, 2002 M.Litt., University of St. Andrews, 2003 M.T.S., Candler School of Theology, Emory University, 2006 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Graduate School of Public and International Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh t. 2010 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Graduate School of Public and International Affairs This dissertation was presented by Michael Patrick Echemendia It was defended on August 20, 2010 and approved by Dr. Paul Nelson, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh Prof. Dennis Gormley, Senior Lecturer, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh Dr. Stephen Sloan, Lawrence J. Chastang Distinguished Professor of Terrorism Studies, University of Central Florida Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Phil Williams, Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh ii Copyright © by Michael Patrick Echemendia 2010 iii DELIBERATE DEATH: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE NATURE OF SUICIDE ATTACKS Michael Patrick Echemendia, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2010 ABSTRACT Suicide attacks are a complex and vexing phenomena that are appearing with greater frequency in the international arena. Previous approaches to studying suicide attacks tend to examine them at one-level of analysis. While helpful, the insights produced are isolated from other crucial factors. This dissertation examines suicide attacks at three-levels of analysis as it investigates the organizational incentives, individual motivations and how the attacks achieve societal resonance. As such, the dissertation asks three primary research questions: why do organizations adopt suicide attacks, why are individuals motivated to become suicide attackers and how do the attacks attain resonance? The research questions are applied to four case studies selected along a conflict continuum where suicide attacks were used. The cases are (a) the Japanese use of Kamikazes during World War II, (b) the LTTE’s use of suicide attacks during its irregular war against Sri Lanka, (c) Hamas’ use of suicide attacks as domestic terrorism against Israel, and (d) Al Qaeda’s use of suicide attacks as transnational terrorism. The dissertation argues that organizations use suicide attacks out of defensive necessity and for strategic purposes, individuals are motivated to become suicide attackers by a religo-nationalist liberation ideology that promises the attacker post-mortem incentives for his or her death, and that societal resonance is achieved when the iv organization draws on religious, cultural and nationalistic narratives that enable the population to accept the tactic. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................................................................................................. XIV 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT ................................................................................. 4 1.2 CENTRAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................ 5 1.3 OVERVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ............................................................. 5 1.4 HYPOTHESIS ................................................................................................... 29 1.5 THE MODEL: SUICIDE ATTACKS AT THREE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................................... 30 1.6 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................ 34 1.6.1 Structured Focused Comparison With Multiple Case Studies ................. 34 1.6.2 Unit(s) of Analysis; Unit(s) of Observation ................................................. 37 1.6.3 Data Collection and Analysis ........................................................................ 37 1.6.4 Selection of Cases and Dissertation Overview ............................................ 38 2.0 SUICIDE ATTACKS IN WAR: THE KAMIKAZES IN WORLD WAR II ...... 44 2.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 45 2.2 FROM VICTORY TO DESPERATION......................................................... 48 2.3 THE KAMIKAZES: ONISHI’S GAMBLE ................................................... 53 vi 2.4 THE BATTLE OF LEYTE GULF AND ITS AFTERMATH: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE KAMIKAZES ................................................................... 58 2.5 THE MOTIVATIONS OF KAMIKAZE PILOTS ......................................... 64 2.5.1 Pilot Motivations: The Bushido Code and Protecting Kin and Country 65 2.5.2 Post-Mortem Incentives: Familial Honor and a Place at the Yakusuni Shrine ......................................................................................................................... 72 2.6 SOCIETAL RESONANCE AND JAPAN’S WAR-TIME IDEOLOGY ..... 77 2.6.1 The Divine Origins of the Japanese Nation ................................................. 78 2.6.2 Japan’s Public Education: Promoting the State’s Ideology ..................... 83 2.7 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 88 3.0 SUICIDE ATTACKS IN IRREGULAR WAR: THE CASE OF THE TAMIL TIGERS ...................................................................................................................................... 91 3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 92 3.2 HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS: A RESURGENT BUDDHISM .............. 95 3.2.1 Buddhism and Sri Lanka .............................................................................. 96 3.2.2 The Christian Challenge and Buddhist Revivalism ................................... 98 3.2.3 Language: Another Element of Buddhist Nationalism ............................ 101 3.2.4 Tamil Discrimination: Language, Education and a New Constitution .. 104 3.3 SUICIDE ATTACKS AND THE LTTE ....................................................... 110 3.3.1 Beginnings of an Insurgency ....................................................................... 111 3.3.2 The First Suicide Attack and the India-LTTE Skirmish ......................... 117 3.3.3 The Black Tigers and the Innovation of Suicide Attacks......................... 122 3.4 WHY BECOME A BLACK TIGER? ............................................................ 131 vii 3.4.1 The LTTE Martyr: One Who Abandons ................................................. 132 3.4.2 The Cyanide Capsule .................................................................................. 136 3.5 SOCIETAL RESONANCE AND THE CULT OF THE MARTYR .......... 140 3.5.1 Great Heroes Day ........................................................................................ 140 3.5.2 Martyr Cemeteries ...................................................................................... 146 3.5.3 The Tamil Community and the Internet ................................................... 150 3.6 CONCUSION ................................................................................................... 154 4.0 SUICIDE ATTACKS AS DOMESTIC TERRORISM: THE CASE OF HAMAS IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT .................................................................. 157 4.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 158 4.2 THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN HAMAS AND ISRAEL .................................................................................................................... 162 4.2.1 Precursor to Hamas: The Muslim Brotherhood ....................................... 163 4.2.2 Sayyid Qutb and the Islamic Ideology of Liberation ............................... 166 4.2.3 The Failure of Nationalism ......................................................................... 172 4.2.4 The Emergence of Hamas ........................................................................... 176 4.3 HAMAS AND SUICIDE ATTACKS IN THE FIRST AND SECOND INTIFADAS ...................................................................................................................... 179 4.3.1 Suicide Attacks and the First Intifada ....................................................... 180 4.3.2 Suicide Attacks and the Second Intifada ................................................... 185 4.4 THE ALLURE OF MARTYRDOM: A POWERFUL INDIVIDUAL INCENTIVE FOR DEATH ............................................................................................. 192 4.4.1 Suicide, Martyrdom, Hatred and the Hamas Attacker ........................... 193 viii 4.4.2 The Martyrdom Video and Final Testament: A Contract for Death .... 203 4.5 MARKETING MARTYRDOM: HOW HAMAS MAKES SUICIDE ATTACKS RESONATE WITH THE PALESTINIAN POPULATION .................... 208 4.5.1 Teaching Martyrdom through the Mosque and Schools ......................... 209 4.5.2 Surrounded by Death: Posters, Television and the Internet .................. 215 4.6 CONCUSION ................................................................................................... 222 5.0 SUICIDE ATTACKS AS TRANSNATIONAL TERRORISM: THE CASE OF AL QAEDA...............................................................................................................................