US author explains real goal of suicide terrorism

[Benbow]

According to Robert Pape, associate professor of political science at the University of Chicago, the main cause of suicide terrorism is a response to foreign occupation.

A surge in "suicide attacks" in Iraq and elsewhere around the world is a response to territorial occupation and has no direct link with "Islamic fundamentalism", a political science professor has said.

Robert Pape, associate professor of political science at the University of Chicago, has spent 25 years creating a database of such attacks and has chronicled them in his new book, Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.

According to the author, most suicide terrorists were well-integrated and productive members of their communities from working-class or middle-class backgrounds. "... Most are volunteers whose first act of violence is their very own suicide attack," Pape said.

A broad misunderstanding of the issue, he said, is taking the US-led war on terrorism in the wrong direction and could in fact be fueling an increase in what he calls suicide terrorism.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ED54E9B7-1D51-4296-8CC6-DB3E7DFDC21B.htm

Full article - "Blowing Up an Assumption" - here
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/05/050518.pape.html

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. Ah, here I go again......

WHY DO THEY HATE AMERICA???

Oh.

That invasion, occupation, murder, mayhem, and maiming thing?

Oh.

Gotcha.

[acmejack]

3. Oh that!

nt

[mike_c]

2. excellent essay, kicked and recommended....

Pape actually analyzed DATA, of all things. Imagine that-- conclusions based on data, rather than preconceptions, or worse yet, political expediency.

[Spectral]

4. I can recommend now! (so I did)

Good post

[burythehatchet]

5. duh

[EFerrari]

6. The professor has it exactly backward.

"A broad misunderstanding of the issue, he said, is taking the US-led war on terrorism in the wrong direction . . ."

The US-led so called "war" is taking broad understanding in the wrong direction.

I'm going to stop calling this "a war". It just dignifies it. It's really just well funded international terrorism.

[burythehatchet]

7. that debate was thoughtfully framed for us long ago.

Its a war on truth and nothing else

[EFerrari]

8. I usually agree with you but this time, it seems there are

thousands of other casualties besides truth here. :(