On Sun, 10 May 2009 17:18:03 -0400 SA <s11131978 at gmail.com> writes:
> Chris Doss wrote:
>
> > 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.
That's one of Pape's prime examples. But he also points out that even in the Middle East many of the groups that have performed suicide bombings have been groups with secular rather than Islamist ideologies. For example the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which has traditionally been Marxist-Leninist, and for that matter, certain wings of Fatah, which is secular nationalist.
>
> 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
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