Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Secular Suicide Bombers?

I've just started a book called Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. Did you know that the most prolific suicide bombers prior to 9/11 were the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka. This is a secular group that regarded their land as being occupied by a foreign entity.

Of course Palestinians are known for suicide bombing. Turns out they regard their territory as occupied by a foreign entity.

Since 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan we've seen dramatic spikes in suicide bombing in both of those states now that the natives regard their territory as occupied by a foreign entity. Should we have expected anything different?

The data show that suicide terrorism is not about religion, as many of my secular friends seem prone to believe.

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