> Wouldn't Occam's Razor work the other way, given the numbers of suicide bombers involved in religiously themed struggles using religious rhetoric?
>
Well, I think one of his main points is that the pioneer of suicide bombing and its most prolific practitioner has been the Tamil Tigers, a secular group.
I don't think Pape would deny the existence of apocalyptic religious motivation - he'd have to be pretty crazy to do that. His point is just that in terms of their strategic behavior, when you look at the moves they make as they interact with other states and movements, terrorist groups act just as you would expect they would if they were "rationally" trying to overturn foreign military occupations.
SA