George Melloan: Suicide Bombers Have a Lot in Common with Kamikaze Pilots
... The Japanese Imperial Army had been noted for its cruelty and fanaticism, much as Muslim jihadists are today. Shinto, an ancient Japanese religion somewhat akin to animism, was employed by Japanese militarists to arouse nationalism, much as today's jihadists dredge up primitive doctrines from Islam to inflame their shadowy armies against the West.
Islam and Shintoism have very little in common, the one coming out of the Old Testament tradition and other with roots in far-eastern Buddhist and Confucian philosophies. But in the hands of power- hungry politicians, any belief capable of stirring human emotions will serve the purpose.
Yet another weapon familiar to us today is the inducement of youngsters to commit suicide to further the political goals of crazed power seekers. It was in Japan where the "kamikaze" was born. The word means "divine wind" and was derived from a typhoon that saved Japan from an invasion fleet in 1281, according to legend. In the late stages of the Pacific war, it described the young men who volunteered to crash airplanes into American warships to bestow honor and glory on themselves and their families.
The Japanese military chose not to use experienced pilots, who were in short supply. But they had no trouble recruiting idealistic young men to learn the rudiments of flying and then take to the air in obsolete aircraft loaded with a 250-pound bomb. The young martyrs were similar in purpose to the youths terrorists recruit today to explode bomb vests in crowded places, exploiting that latent impulse that, once awakened, propels some youths toward seeking a glorious, self-inflicted death.
By war's end, Japan had sent almost 4,000 youngsters out over the ocean to be shot down or consummate a fiery, metal-wrenching life's end crashing into an American ship. The U.S. Air Force credits them with sinking 34 Navy ships and damaging 368 others, killing 4,900 U.S. sailors and wounding about the same number.
That was a heavy toll but it didn't win the war, just as it is highly unlikely that today's brainwashed martyrs will change the course of history. One reason a victory is unlikely can be adduced from what happened in Japan after its government surrendered to U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur. It took awhile for the militarist fanatics, who claimed they had been betrayed by the emperor, to quiet down. But once they did, a new Japanese leadership class began, with MacArthur's guidance, to build a new Japan.
The results are what we see today, a people who have created the world's second-largest economy and a strong democracy. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has just invited the Japanese people to back him in a September snap election on reforming his party's political machine which exploits postal-service patronage. Party hacks in Parliament are trying to block reform.
Today, 60 years on from the genesis of modern Japan, the U.S. is employing its efforts once more to try to create a democracy on the ruins of a brutal regime. The assembly drafting a new constitution for Iraq has labored through much rancor and confusion. But if things go well, Iraq will have a constitutional, elected, government by the end of the year.
As in Japan, efforts to prevent this from happening have been laced with fanaticism. Idealistic young Japanese men went to their deaths in 1945 unaware that they were sacrificing not for a bright future that would soon materialize but for a dead past. Today, history is repeating itself in the Middle East. Both men and women are being employed by cynical reactionaries trying to preserve a political culture infamous for its cruelties.
There are of course the usual voices crying that the cost is too high in American lives and treasure. But perhaps the critics have forgotten about the greatest kamikaze attack of all time, launched from the skies over America itself, that brought down the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon and killed almost 3,000 people. In a dangerous world, it is necessary to either manage the threats, or let them manage you.
Read entire article at WSJ
Islam and Shintoism have very little in common, the one coming out of the Old Testament tradition and other with roots in far-eastern Buddhist and Confucian philosophies. But in the hands of power- hungry politicians, any belief capable of stirring human emotions will serve the purpose.
Yet another weapon familiar to us today is the inducement of youngsters to commit suicide to further the political goals of crazed power seekers. It was in Japan where the "kamikaze" was born. The word means "divine wind" and was derived from a typhoon that saved Japan from an invasion fleet in 1281, according to legend. In the late stages of the Pacific war, it described the young men who volunteered to crash airplanes into American warships to bestow honor and glory on themselves and their families.
The Japanese military chose not to use experienced pilots, who were in short supply. But they had no trouble recruiting idealistic young men to learn the rudiments of flying and then take to the air in obsolete aircraft loaded with a 250-pound bomb. The young martyrs were similar in purpose to the youths terrorists recruit today to explode bomb vests in crowded places, exploiting that latent impulse that, once awakened, propels some youths toward seeking a glorious, self-inflicted death.
By war's end, Japan had sent almost 4,000 youngsters out over the ocean to be shot down or consummate a fiery, metal-wrenching life's end crashing into an American ship. The U.S. Air Force credits them with sinking 34 Navy ships and damaging 368 others, killing 4,900 U.S. sailors and wounding about the same number.
That was a heavy toll but it didn't win the war, just as it is highly unlikely that today's brainwashed martyrs will change the course of history. One reason a victory is unlikely can be adduced from what happened in Japan after its government surrendered to U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur. It took awhile for the militarist fanatics, who claimed they had been betrayed by the emperor, to quiet down. But once they did, a new Japanese leadership class began, with MacArthur's guidance, to build a new Japan.
The results are what we see today, a people who have created the world's second-largest economy and a strong democracy. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has just invited the Japanese people to back him in a September snap election on reforming his party's political machine which exploits postal-service patronage. Party hacks in Parliament are trying to block reform.
Today, 60 years on from the genesis of modern Japan, the U.S. is employing its efforts once more to try to create a democracy on the ruins of a brutal regime. The assembly drafting a new constitution for Iraq has labored through much rancor and confusion. But if things go well, Iraq will have a constitutional, elected, government by the end of the year.
As in Japan, efforts to prevent this from happening have been laced with fanaticism. Idealistic young Japanese men went to their deaths in 1945 unaware that they were sacrificing not for a bright future that would soon materialize but for a dead past. Today, history is repeating itself in the Middle East. Both men and women are being employed by cynical reactionaries trying to preserve a political culture infamous for its cruelties.
There are of course the usual voices crying that the cost is too high in American lives and treasure. But perhaps the critics have forgotten about the greatest kamikaze attack of all time, launched from the skies over America itself, that brought down the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon and killed almost 3,000 people. In a dangerous world, it is necessary to either manage the threats, or let them manage you.