read robert pape. it is not about religion.

Why would a Palestinian bent on vengeance commit suicide? Far better to go to the bus stop, market, restaurant, pool hall, etc., with a shopping bag or backpack full of explosives, casually discard the package in some inconspicuous place, and leave. BOOM! Lots of Israelis die, and the bomber walks away to bomb another location next week. But no, we are asked to believe that the suicide bombers blow THEMSELVES up, too.

"Why would the bombers do that?" we ask. "Because they are fanatics, that's why," is the response.

Well, if you are a Palestinian fanatic you would surely would want to kill as many Israelis as possible. You would want to extend your life as long as possible to do that job. Committing suicide unnecessarily would be a very dumb thing to do.

Why no IRA suicide bombers?

In all the years of IRA activity in Northern Ireland and Britain, the IRA never used suicide bombers, did they? Wonder why the "Palestinians" have to?

Because they're MUSLIM fanatics!

The suicide bomber campaign can be seen as part of an Israeli PR war.

Palestine is now behaving as the Japanese did toward the end of World War II when, in desperation, they sent pilots crashing into U.S. ships. These kamikaze attacks were both effective and terrifying, but they were also a clear sign that Japan had gone nuts.

The kamikaze attacks were an important element in the dehumanizing of Japan. They encouraged, maybe the right word is "permitted, the use of the atomic bomb. After all, the enemy was not rational. It was barbaric. It would never surrender. It would fight to the last square inch. Better to incinerate them all.

In a similar manner, suicide bombings have transformed the image of Palestinians. Now, in the view of many, they are so different, so primitive, so cruel and indifferent to human life that they celebrate the suicide of a loved one and the simultaneous murder of innocent people.

The PR payoff of the suicide bomber campaign is to convince world public opinion that any barbaric act against the Palestinians is justified. Nuke them, burn them alive, decapitate every last man, woman, and child. Do whatever you wish.

If I were the director of an Israeli dirty trick intelligence organization, I could think of a number of ways to pull off "suicide" bombings.

• Send an agent to a public place, have him inconspicuously drop off his package and leave. BOOM! Meanwhile, simply abduct and murder some unfortunate Palestinian and blame it on him or her.

• Create a false ID for the Israeli agent, have him establish that persona in real time, send him into a public place, have him inconspicuously drop off his package and leave. BOOM! Then disappear the agent.

• With effective Israeli control of hospitals, mental hospitals, and prisons, Israeli intelligence people have a plentiful supply of the walking wounded at their fingertips -- Palestinians who are human ruins, shellshocked, brain-damaged and drugged to the gills. How easy it would be to send one of these unknowing unfortunates out on an errand. "Here, strap this money belt around your middle to make sure you don't lose the money." Tell the poor sap to meet someone in a pool hall, and detonate the "money belt." BOOM!