I was told by someone that before 9/11, most of the suicide bombings happened in Sri Lanka.

I believe it was carried out by Tamil Tiger rebels against the Sri Lankan Army.

Quote:

There is a long-established Tamil minority in the north and east. The British also brought in Tamil labourers to work the coffee and tea plantations in the central highlands, making the island a major tea producer.

But the majority Buddhist Sinhalese community resented what they saw as favouritism towards the mainly-Hindu Tamils under British administration.

The growth of a more assertive Sinhala nationalism after independence fanned the flames of ethnic division until civil war erupted in the 1980s between Tamils pressing for self-rule and the government.

Most of the fighting took place in the north. But the conflict also penetrated the heart of Sri Lankan society with Tamil Tiger rebels carrying out devastating suicide bombings in Colombo in the 1990s.

The violence killed more than 60,000 people, damaged the economy and harmed tourism in one of South Asia's potentially prosperous societies.

Salam Brother,

Although I don't have any links to articles etc I can remember suicide bombings going back years. Even through the 1990's around Turkey, Algeria, Tunisia etc. They were muslim but I don't think it is exclusive.

Going back to like WWII you had suicide bombers which were people who used to fly planes into things etc.

There were many suicide bombings in Israel prior to 9/11.

Abbas is referring to Japanese Kamikazes.

Suicide bombing has been a part of terrorism for decades, going on centuries. Just like terrorism wasn't invented by a bunch of arabs sitting in a tent in '92, neither was suicide bombing. Terrorism has always been an alternative to war for those unable to mount serious campaigns, or to weaken opponents in conjunction with a serious campaign. The ability to better penetrate into sensitive enemy areas, and the fact it is a suicide demonstrating (ostensibly) the resolve of the perpetrator makes suicide bombing a serious psychological weapon which in turn makes it a useful weapon in terrorism.

Seperately, Bin Laden attacked the United States because he was disgruntled by the US military presence in Arabia during the Gulf War. He chose the WTC due to the destruction in Lebanon in the 80s, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed suggested a plan that incorporated this desire plus the ability to strike at a symbol of American wealth.

"TEX" wrote:

apart from that, i wanna know if they were an actual threat to the west?

can anybody gimmee a reason why Binladin wud attack WTC?

7/7 was obviosly coz of iraq

"Inventing a crisis" comes to mind.......