Blame the Mullahs?

The question of suicide bombers, their origin and intent, has been preoccupying people's minds for the last few weeks.

There is one helpful insight into the origins of suicide bombers from the Iranians web site: the Persian Journal.

In an article, it goes on to suggest that Khomeini's desire to win in the Iran-Iraq wars led to the Islamic reinterpretation of suicide bombing as a 'glorious act of martyrdom', and so it spread across the Middle East:

"The origins of suicide bombing lie in the battlefields of the 1980-1988 Iran/Iraq war when Iranian child soldiers strapped bombs to their chests and blew up Iraqi tanks."

" The ancient Islamic prohibition against suicide was re-written and suicide bombing was reinterpreted as a glorious act of martyrdom.

From that moment onwards, the cult of suicide bombing invaded hearts and minds across the Islamic world."