What Exactly Is A Suicide Bomber?

Last week I watched a documentary called “Cult Of The Suicide Bomber”, written and presented by former CIA man Bob Baer. During the course of the programme we were informed that in 1980, as Iraqi forces were advancing in southern Iran, thirteen year old Hossein Fahmideh threw himself under an Iraqi tank and blew up both himself and the tank's occupants. So, according to Baer was the first so called “suicide bomber”, although the Iranian nation proclaimed him a hero and “Martyr”.

However, another Channel 4 documentary I watched on Saturday, entitled “Hitler’s Children”, had an interview with a former German soldier at the Battle Of Normandy. He told the story of how a young member of Hitler’s “Baby Division” gave his life for “The Fatherland” by deliberately blowing up both himself and an advancing Allied Tank. This pre-dates Baer’s example by 36 years.

That said, in both cases I find it difficult to understand how either equates to an act of “suicide”. Both incidents involved an individual willing to lay down his life for an ideological cause.

Now, for an example of what I regard as a true suicide bomber –

FUZHOU: A suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in central Fuzhou yesterday, killing himself and injuring 31 others, local police said.

According to a suicide note found by police, he had been suffering from lung cancer for about two years. In the letter, Huang said he had a dispute with one of his neighbours in 2002. He claimed he had been unfairly treated by the local public security department and was sentenced to jail until the end of 2003. The imprisonment delayed treatment of his illness, he claimed. Huang's family was heavily in debt and his children were unable to go to school because of lack of money, the letter said. Police are still investigating the case.

http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/09/content_467358.htm

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/world/12350455.htm