The murder rate in the US is about 6.8 per 100,000 people in 1998. Since Israel has about 6 million people, that would amount to about 400 per year, or 8 per week.
The Times has a graphic up this morning showing that it's getting close. 176 so far this year. nytimes.com
On the general suicide topic, it's not totally unheard of for various military operations to send out near suicidal missions, though it'd be pretty hard to fathom in the current US military. Here's one take from early on:
Thomas Friedman in his New York Times column of September 25 characterizes the new type of terrorist as evil, educated, and suicidal. Of course, the terrorists don't characterize themselves as "evil" or even "suicidal." A brief anecdote. After a few years of being involved in building and testing nuclear weapons (from 1950 on, at Los Alamos), I began to work on North American air defense, and in the mid-1950s joined several panels of the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC)—among them the Strategic Military Panel. This panel met two days each month until the demise of PSAC in 1973. I had already spent a month in Korea and Japan during the Korean War. I never understood why it was a source of comfort for some US strategists that the Soviet Union had not mastered in-flight aerial refueling of bombers; most people seemed to feel more secure in the knowledge that Soviet bombers armed with nuclear weapons would not have fuel to return home after a nuclear attack on the United States. I argued that I, for one, would be quite willing to participate in a one-way retaliatory nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, and I regard myself as rational—not suicidal. nybooks.com
While trying to track down if J. Edgar Hoover actually manage to get himself awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (mercifully, he didn't even come close) , I found this site with the official citations: army.mil . A lot of these guys could, looking from the outside, be called suicidal. They were certainly heroic, but if you look at the citations with *'s in front, in many cases, the self-preservation instinct was highly supressed. Just picking out a random link, the second listing under G's from WWII:
GALT, WILLIAM WYLIE
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, 168th Infantry, 34th Infantry Division. Place and date: At Villa Crocetta, Italy, 29 May 1944. Entered service at: Stanford, Mont. Birth: Geyser, Mont. G.O. No.: 1, 1 February 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. Capt. Galt, Battalion S3, at a particularly critical period following 2 unsuccessful attacks by his battalion, of his own volition went forward and ascertained just how critical the situation was. He volunteered, at the risk of his life, personally to lead the battalion against the objective. When the lone remaining tank destroyer refused to go forward, Capt. Galt jumped on the tank destroyer and ordered it to precede the attack. As the tank destroyer moved forward, followed by a company of riflemen, Capt. Galt manned the .30-caliber machinegun in the turret of the tank destroyer, located and directed fire on an enemy 77mm. anti-tank gun, and destroyed it. Nearing the enemy positions, Capt. Galt stood fully exposed in the turret, ceaselessly firing his machinegun and tossing hand grenades into the enemy zigzag series of trenches despite the hail of sniper and machinegun bullets ricocheting off the tank destroyer. As the tank destroyer moved, Capt. Galt so maneuvered it that 40 of the enemy were trapped in one trench. When they refused to surrender, Capt. Galt pressed the trigger of the machinegun and dispatched every one of them. A few minutes later an 88mm shell struck the tank destroyer and Capt. Galt fell mortally wounded across his machinegun. He had personally killed 40 Germans and wounded many more. Capt. Galt pitted his judgment and superb courage against overwhelming odds, exemplifying the highest measure of devotion to his country and the finest traditions of the U.S. Army.
A little farther down on that page:
GONSALVES, HAROLD
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 28 January 1926, Alameda, Calif. Accredited to: California. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as Acting Scout Sergeant with the 4th Battalion, 15th Marines, 6th Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryukyu Chain, 15 April 1945. Undaunted by the powerfully organized opposition encountered on Motobu Peninsula during the fierce assault waged by his battalion against the Japanese stronghold at Mount Yaetake, Pfc. Gonsalves repeatedly braved the terrific enemy bombardment to aid his forward observation team in directing well-placed artillery fire. When his commanding officer determined to move into the front lines in order to register a more effective bombardment in the enemy's defensive position, he unhesitatingly advanced uphill with the officer and another Marine despite a slashing barrage of enemy mortar and rifle fire. As they reached the front and a Japanese grenade fell close within the group, instantly Pfc. Gonsalves dived on the deadly missile, absorbing the exploding charge in his own body and thereby protecting the others from serious and perhaps fatal wounds. Stouthearted and indomitable, Pfc. Gonsalves readily yielded his own chances of survival that his fellow marines might carry on the relentless battle against a fanatic enemy and his cool decision, prompt action and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death reflect the highest credit upon himself and upon the U.S. Naval Service.
It's hard to read too many of these, and I'm not trying to equate these guys to Palestinian "martyrs". But armies in general have been known to use kids in the ranks to take advantage of Wilhelm Stekel's aphorism, immortalized by Salinger.
"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." - WILHELM STEKEL, quoted by J.D. Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye geocities.com |
