Suicide bombers as political tacticians, not religious fanatics

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Sep 22, 2003

Robert Pape, a U. of Chicago political scientist, has an interesting and somewhat disturbing op-ed column in today's New York Times.

His contention-- based on a careful study of nearly 200 incidents over 12 years-- is that suicide bombing is not usually the work of religious fanatics.

Rather, what nearly all suicide terrorist campaigns have in common is a specific secular and strategic goal: to compel liberal democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists consider to be their homeland.

I don't know whether or not Pape is right. But the argument is worth considering.