Terrorism's answer is humiliation and respect

How does someone find the will to kill themselves in an act of terrorism? Where do these people come from? We would like to believe that these suicide terrorists simply come from the Middle East and drop the discussion. But are people from Middle Eastern countries so crazy that they naturally have an affinity for blowing themselves up in fits of religious rage? Of course not. Then why do they do it? What could possibly drive a human being to kill themselves and innocent bystanders in an act of vengeance as abstract as religion? The answer is as simple as humiliation and respect.

It is a common myth that the core reason for suicide bombers is that they have nothing to live for. The rest of the world usually takes the common view that they are poor, uneducated and lost in the world desperately trying to find a way to make people listen to their message. But this is not always the case. Many Islamic terrorists are well-educated and wealthy. It is not easy to fly a plane. In fact, some terrorists are being educated in European and American colleges and have their entire lives to look forward to. These people are smart, motivated and have the opportunity to make something of themselves. Then why do they do it? It all comes back to humiliation and respect.

It might be okay to wear a head-wrap or turn towards Mecca to pray five times a day in Cairo or Kabul but in London or New York it is seen as strange or silly. If you saw a full-grown man stop, lay down a mat and kneel in the middle of a sidewalk, would you stare, snicker or laugh? Now, most educated people would know that this person is praying and that respect must be paid to their beliefs. But it isn't the educated people who snicker at this person kneeling on the sidewalk, it's the uneducated people and unfortunately there are a lot of them. Americans assume that if you come to our country then you must assimilate into our culture. This is not the case. How would you feel if you went to Egypt or Afghanistan and as you were sitting in Sunday prayer a group of rowdy Islamic kids laughed at you? The Islamic world has been laughed at for years. Western countries usually depict them as backwards and out-of-date compared to the rest of the world. But, more importantly, Western countries don't understand how to deal with that region of the world and that leads to anger.When the United States invaded Afghanistan we offered $1 million for Osama bin Laden. What we didn't understand was that the people of Afghanistan, who might actually give Osama to us, were starving. What does a million dollars mean to someone who doesn't have food for their children? What is someone from the desert who grew up in a place where you build your own house and live off the land going to do with a million dollars when there is nothing to buy? America does not understand the economic and social structures of the country that they were invading.

Yet, we would assume that America, the most advanced nation in the world, would learn from its mistakes. But, unfortunately, we didn't. When America went into Iraq we had few intelligence operatives on the ground and didn't bother to put many more in Iraq prior to the invasion. This cost us once again because what any operative could have told president Bush was that Saddam's army was a bunch of poor, uneducated kids who had no allegiance to Saddam or his regime and who could be bought for a fraction of what it would cost the United States to fight them. If we had given these men food, money and respect they would have been a perfect police force for the country after we conquered it. But, we decided to annihilate them and over-stretch our troops and money, costing us hundreds of unnecessary casualties.

It all comes back to respect and humiliation for the Middle Eastern peoples. It's as simple as black and white. They are the same as us, they want a happy life and to live in a free country.

But when their beliefs and culture are humiliated by a bunch of rich inconsiderate Westerners they act out in vengeance. Humiliation can drive a person to do terrible things. The next time you hear about a suicide bomber, don't write it off as another crazy attention-starved Arab, but think about what could cause a human being to do such a thing.

Daniel Bracke is a second year English major at CSULB.