The Suicide Brigade

In Iraq, the stunning advance of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been halted by pro-government forces. ISIS is made up of Sunnis, and they swept across northern Iraq because the Sunnis who dominate that region decided they preferred rule by dangerous Sunni terrorists to rule by the Shiite-dominated government. But now the fighting has moved into areas where Shiites are the majority and the remains of the army have rallied, supported by Shiite militias Americans last heard about when they were resisting the US occupation:

Large sections of Baghdad and southern Iraq’s Shiite heartland have been swept up in a mass popular mobilization, energized by the fatwa of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urging able-bodied Iraqis to take up arms against Sunni extremists. Shiite and mixed neighborhoods now brim with militias, who march under arms, staff checkpoints and hold rallies to sign up more young men.

I find this moving; it always touches my martial side to see ordinary men rally like this to defend their homes against attackers. And yet one element of the scene is jarring to my sensibilities:

The long lines of Shiite fighters began marching through the capital early Saturday morning. Some wore masks. One group had yellow and green suicide explosives, which they said were live, strapped to their chests.

It struck me as I read this how deeply the image of the suicide vest-wearing martyr has sunk its roots in the contemporary Middle East. I suppose Shiites have long had a thing for martyrs, and of course being willing to die for the cause is always part of enthusiasm for war. But these vests, on men headed for what looks like a perfectly conventional battle, summoned for me a whole film reel of images -- Palestinian boys throwing themselves at Israelis, Taliban fighters blowing themselves up at American checkpoints, the planes of 9-11. I worry that this fascination with rebellion by suicide, with the explosive vest as the ultimate weapon of the weak against the strong, has become a myth with a power all its own quite divorced from any particular cause, and that Muslims will struggle for decades with the magical aura of this violent act.