Nature and Management in Different Countries Essay

Terrorism is a war that has been waging on for more than what the general American population knows about – what makes terrorism a very close reality and a household name is the fact that in the last few years, terrorists are bringing the smell of fear and death closer to the erstwhile protected US domestic landscape through a very lethal weapon: suicide bombers. Times have changed, and the terrorists are getting bolder and bolder, so they say, but some things remain the same, and that includes the nature of suicide terrorist groups, how they are managed by their leaders and how things are just as much the same as it was in the past, as it was in the other countries were suicide terrorist activities were felt earlier, harder, harsher prior to the onslaught of these breed of freedom fighters in the collective US consciousness. Suicide terrorist groups, like any other organization, is a complex maze which can only be treaded successfully through the use of human resource management tools, not very far from the management paradigm and approaches that business groups and other non-violent groups use, since the key to the sustenance of suicide terrorist groups, ironically, is the efficiency of the management to ensure that they always have people who wants to die and to kill in the name of satisfying the greater goal and the greater good. People who are living in a place and in a time characterized by commercialism and consumerism – of television ads and product promotions about how to stay beautiful and live longer, about how to look better and have better skin and hair condition, about means and ways to battle diseases and extend lives a little longer – people, who, in short enjoys life to the full extent, may find it difficult to understand how there are those who unlike them can just lay down their lives to die, living everything that the material world still has to offer. Suicide terrorists no doubt are a source of fear and anger as much as they are a source of wonderment, mystery and mystique. People ask themselves why these suicide terrorists do what they do. â€Å"What does motivate men and women to become suicide fighters? This is another difficult question to answer. Some of the suicide groups are motivated by religion, others by ethnic nationalism – or by a combination of the two. In many cases, it is difficult to tell which motivation is the strongest (Williams, Waltrip, 2004, p.139). † Here, Williams and Waltrip points to the nature of suicide terrorists found in different parts of the world – that they are motivated by something greater than the preservation of their mortal life. The difference in motivation is not just found among different groups, but as low as every one single suicide terrorist and his/her personal reason for embarking on such kind of work and mission (Williams, Waltrip, 2004, p. 139). The modern media(television, Internet and movies) supplement whatever little knowledge the public has by providing either real or fictitious information through documentaries and television shows and movies that graphically illustrate suicide terrorists, their behavior, their nature and their characteristics, with the risk that sometimes they are far from telling the people the truth: e. g. take for example the notion of most people about the gender of a suicide bomber as male, when some historians say otherwise. â€Å"In general, males rarely become suicide terrorists, who are more typically young women and teenagers (Wessely, Krasnov, 2006, p. 112). † What this points out is that with the growth of global terrorism and the rise of suicide terrorist groups and their actions, the desire for knowledge about such aspect of modern day life also improves. Short history on suicide terrorism – In its most basic sense, suicide terrorism may refer to any act wherein the cause of terror of the people, community or society wreaks havoc, death and mayhem without regard for his or her own survival or even with the presence of risking sure death in the process. If this is the case, then suicide terrorism indeed goes way, way back – even during the times of barbarian warriors or even further back. But the concept of modern day suicide terrorism is younger, being around for just nearly three decades. â€Å"Apparently, the first terrorist suicide attack took place in Beirut on 15 December 1981. On that date a suicide driver reportedly drove an explosives-laden car into the Iraqi embassy, killing himself as well as 61 other persons and injuring more than 100. Iraq claimed that the attack was carried out by the Iranian and Syrian intelligence services. The use of suicide attacks as a systematic tactic, however, began only in 1983 (Bjorgo, 2005, p. 72). † Historians do not actually claim that this act triggered the new wave of in the style of terrorism, but this is one of the first one of its kind, probably the first documented act constituting the idea of modern day suicide terrorism by a suicide terrorist. Suicide attacks by suicide terrorist groups is not something new, especially not in the international level, since many groups decades ago were already resorting to this type of attack. The only difference is that now, there is an increased global presence and awareness about suicide terrorist groups and their actions because they are expanding their targets towards new locations, targeting a new set of people some of which are not even fully aware that they are just as susceptible to such attacks compared to the people living in other locations which are war torn and struggling from armed conflict. â€Å"Although suicide terrorism is not new to the world, it appears to have greatly expanded since early 2003 and has spread to regions where it was previously unknown. The primary increase was in the large number of suicide terrorists operating in Iraq, which until the war had not experienced this brand of terrorism (Fieldman, Shapir, 2004, p. 46)†.