Word: martyrdom
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...then the forced emptying of Cambodian cities at the cost of millions of lives follows logically. After all, the extirpation of parasites is a public service. Once you have decided, as did Ayatullah Khomeini, to redeem the Islamic world from idolatry, and once you believe, as he does, that martyrdom is the quickest way to the joys of paradise, then sending 14-year-old boys into the teeth of machine guns is by no means irrational...
...reflag and escort Kuwaiti tankers through the gulf, Iran announced with great fanfare that it would stage four days of war games in the Strait of Hormuz, the entryway to the gulf. In case there was any doubt about the intent of the maneuvers, they were code-named "Martyrdom." One of the reflagged ships, the fully loaded Gas Prince, slipped quietly out of harm's way and toward its destination in Japan before the exercises began. But the supertanker Bridgeton, damaged last month by a mine that may have been planted by the Iranians, remained in Kuwait. Meanwhile, Washington found...
...that are covered with mirrors are set beside the doors. "If you drive around the city after a large military operation, you see many of these shrines," says a Tehran resident. "They are all over the southern section. Posters of the dead form a sort of collage dedicated to martyrdom. Every so often, municipal workers come to remove the posters, but soon the walls are covered again. It has become so common that people hardly notice anymore...
...later became known as Shi'ites, Hussein's tragic attempt to establish the Prophet's true succession was the supreme sacrifice for the faith. Martyrdom thus offers Shi'ites a chance to imitate their sainted hero. In Iran, which is more than 90% Shi'ite, passion plays depicting Hussein's last hours are performed regularly. Each year, on the date of Hussein's death, thousands of penitents march through Iranian streets whipping themselves with chains and branches, seeking purification through suffering...
...support arises not from organized political muscle--as it did for her deposed predecessor, Ferdinand Marcos--but from personal charisma. After the martyrdom of her husband, former Senator Benigno Aquino, her political innocence became her strong card in the presidential race against the incumbent Marcos and his perceived cynical machinations...