ABSTRACT
The suicide bomber appears to be the perfect opposite, a human being who is sacrificed, indeed sacrifices him or herself, but who cannot be killed. To the neat opposition between homo sacer and the suicide bomber, it is crucial to append a further note about the deeper linkage, if not identity. With the suicide bomber, the Cold War specter of annihilation overspills any promise of containment in nuclear monopoly and threatens to break out anywhere, anytime. The aim of most suicide bombers is to bring attention to some desperate cause, to call attention to the plight of aggrieved people by engaging in the most desperate form of violence. The suicide attacker is most often a martyr in a struggle for recognition. Perhaps the recent vogue of suicide attack will quickly fade, deflated by the realization that its desired effect, that of bringing desperately needed recognition to desperate causes, is finally self-defeating.
