Dying to Kill

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What motivates suicide bombers in Iraq and globally? Can winning local hearts and minds prevent such acts? Will the phenomenon spread to the U.S.? These critical questions are explored in this important work. Mia Bloom examines the strategies, successes, and failures of suicide bombing across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, while evaluating government responses. She argues that efforts by Israel, Russia, and the U.S. in Iraq have often failed to deter terrorism and suicide bombings. Bloom analyzes how terrorist groups learn from each other, adapt to counterterror tactics, and the financing of terrorism, situating suicide attacks within broader ethnic and political conflicts. The book begins with a historical overview of terrorism, from ancient times to modern examples like the Japanese Kamikazes and contemporary terrorists from various groups. Bloom highlights how suicide terror serves to instill fear, attract media attention, garner support, and foster solidarity among diverse terrorist factions. She posits that social and political motivations often drive suicide bombers more than religious ones. In her examination of female suicide bombers, she discusses cases from Sri Lanka, Turkey, and the Chechen struggle. Ultimately, Bloom explores the external conditions that allow suicide terrorism to thrive, developing a theory on the varying effectiveness of these tactics.