Daily Times

On October 23, 1983, the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon had an attack mounted against personnel when a suicide bomber detonated a truck laden with powerful explosives. One suicide bomber released his trigger. My nation lost 241 servicemen. US Marines made up 220 of the deceased, and the Navy community lost 15 hospital corpsmen — an enlisted corps tasked with providing a high level of medical care for the military in garrison and also in the field. Such events call for a hard swallow and locked lips. We take the oath and it binds us to risk. We wear the uniform knowing that we are an expendable product. Our job is national defence. That is a fancy way of saying we give a damn about our citizenry.

On January 25, a man strode toward the congested international arrival hub at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport and detonated a bomb, which killed 35 people and left quadruple the number with traumatic injuries. The blast radius produced an impressive estimate of a blast force equivalent to 11 tons of TNT. A video taken shortly after the bombing shows a surreal environment — corpses strewn alongside baggage, a suitcase on fire, and the look of excessive particulate matter floating in the air. What oath had these people taken which bound them to risk? A step back in history is required.

September 11 changed the rules. Nineteen single-mission combatants provided the introduction to large-scale planned suicide attack against civilians. As travellers boarded flights that morning, they were unaware that the end of their historical dash would be as human components of missiles hurtling toward symbolic targets. An organisation gave the command, a flawless execution of plan ensued and an act of war brought retaliatory response. Nations respond to aggression.

The mastermind and ‘freedom fighter’ was noted for piety. He would not look his former sister-in-law in the eye when she answered the door in Jeddah. But did he avert his gaze from American women plunging to their deaths from the Twin Towers? Approximately 200 people took that jump to their deaths. One survivor who vacated the first tower before it collapsed remembered walking by the exposed foetus and umbilical cord of what had been hidden in the womb moments earlier. One hundred and fifty mile per hour trajectory of a pregnant woman skydiving to the pavement provides zero survival rates. Transgression beyond the limit!

This war by increments continues today. Moscow’s tragedy is the most recent demonstration of the power of asymmetrical warfare as waged by amoral men. After all such events we encounter the usual political justifications for the carnage of the innocent. But the balm for social injustice is not wanton murder. Premeditated murder does not envision the common good.

In the examination of the word ‘transgress’, the Arabic root is ‘aduw with the derivatives of ta’addi and yata’adda. But the root means ‘enemy’ when used as a noun. So in a sense, the one who has transgressed a limit becomes his/her own worst enemy. And in the case of suicide bombers, they present as societal enemies. So where do we look for primary guidance regarding universal values? Our holy books seem a good start.

Biblical stories unfold in same manner as those within the Quranic sciences. The stage supports a cast of characters who proceed to unfurl their themes and concepts by the manner in which they speak and act. One of the famous Old Testament stories is that of Jael, a nomadic tent-dweller who managed to pound a tent peg into the forehead of Sisera, commander of a widely feared army, which boasted 900 iron chariots. One of his ‘transgress the limits’ acts was to rip open the bellies of pregnant women and fling their offspring to the ground. Sound familiar? It was just too much for Jael. So when the opportunity knocked, she took the tent peg into her hand.

Suicide bombers present as the ultimate cowards. They lack the courage to continue to live and strive. Upon their deaths they leave behind the malice of their craft in the image of living survivors who stump through the remainder of their own miserable existence minus limbs or pieces of flesh. But suicide bombing remains an incredibly cheap manner to sow the seeds of discord. And this prostitution of legal war by turning cheap tricks has no lack of pimps. In speaking of this tragedy with an Islamic scholar, his simple words showed the usual manner in which the intelligent require minimal response to present a concept. “The feeding pool must be drained.” Yes, it is time to drain the pool. There has been transgression beyond the limit.

It will not be US policies, which will change your regional landscape. Within the boundaries of your own culture and civilisation lie the tools for resolution of suicide-bombing operations. Drain the feeding ponds and replace stagnant water with fresh pools of thought. Allow no quarter for the men who preach hatred while lacking a normal brain map for solutions. Incarcerate the men who dangle martyrdom as something as easily purchased as the trinket in the bazaar. This is not the bargain struck for the soul, that of killing the innocent for a taste of paradise.

I will stand with you. The tent peg is in my hand.

The writer is a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserves. She is a Nurse Corps officer who resides in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She has written articles and book reviews for the Marine Corps Gazette, and Op-Ed commentary for the Dallas Morning News