[Milton-L] Samson as suicide bomber

[alan horn]

> "Inevitability" is a lot less precise than Alan Horn seems to think: Lea Tsemel, the Israeli lawyer who defends Palestinian terrorists, tells us that many suicide bombers do not succeed and are arrested. She finds that most of them are relieved. Their motives I think are relevant as of those extremely likely to die, like the Assassins..
>
> Why 'limited'? I guess it's because I am writing an e-mail not a book.

"Inevitability" was your word, Professor Wood. I guess the real
distinction is that a suicide seeks death by design. Obviously, that
result is inevitable only if the act is successfully carried out. But
it's whether there is an intention to die behind the act, not whether
it is fulfilled in any particular case, that makes it suicide. Or
would you like to argue that since many suicides fail, there is no
difference between suicide and putting yourself at mortal risk?

I'm glad to hear there was no unconscious ethnic bias in your choice
of examples. If your point was merely "all high-profile assassinations
are generally suicide missions," there didn't seem to be any need to
cite specific examples at all. So naturally I wondered what you found
especially suicidey about those assassins from South Asia that led you
to associate them, together with the kamikaze pilots and the Nizari
Ismailis, with Islamist suicide bombers.

Alan H.