Suicide Terrorism & Religion

[Tempus]

This is a video of a lecture given by Robert Pape last year on suicide terrorism and its causes.





It's a four part thing - here are the other three parts (just add these to the end of "http://www.youtube.com"):

• Part 2 - /watch?v=XwODYq63ku0&feature=relmfu
  
• Part 3 - /watch?v=jPhDVigmGQ4&feature=relmfu
  
• Part 4 - /watch?v=VD7hdRcapYM&feature=relmfu
  

I've only watched a truncated version of this so far, but if I understand correctly and the data is accurate it would seem that over 90% of suicide terrorism since 1980 has been perpetrated by occupied country's nationals against the occupying forces. This would run contrary to some assertions / implications that Islam is one of the root causes of suicide terrorism.

So, what do you think?

[Faith No More]

I haven't watched the video, but for a long time I have felt that Islam is not the cause for the bombings. It is the mechanism by which they convince others to give up their life. The causes appear to be political, not religious.

[Tempus]

I've since watched all the videos. It seems my initial impression was correct. Apparently their data is public too, which may be interesting to look at.

I haven't watched the video, but for a long time I have felt that Islam is not the cause for the bombings. It is the mechanism by which they convince others to give up their life. The causes appear to be political, not religious.

I'd recommend all four parts, he makes a bizarre claim at near the beginning (about the first attempt to blow up the WTC*), but other than that everything seems pretty sound. I'm sceptical that Islam is even the way they convince others to give up there lives. My own personal thought (partially based on facts, partially on speculation) is that religion (in general, no specific religions) can serve as a contributing, but non-essential factor to convincing others to perform suicide terrorism. I can imagine it exacerbating the problem though.

*He seems to suggest that the reason the US didn't "turn itself upside down" with the first attack like it did with 9/11 is because it wasn't a suicide attack. It would seem pretty obvious to me that the reason the US didn't "turn itself upside down" is because the tower didn't actually fall and thousands of people weren't killed. It wasn't the fact that the people committed suicide that shocked people, it was the fact that heavy casualties had been inflicted upon a civilian population in one of the most iconic cities in the country - a place far removed from the battlefields in the middle east.

[Polaris]

I haven't watched the video, but for a long time I have felt that Islam is not the cause for the bombings. It is the mechanism by which they convince others to give up their life. The causes appear to be political, not religious.

That is the case with almost all conflict. Religion is almost never the cause, just the excuse. Same goes for ethnic differences. One ethnic group has the resources another group wants. Of course those who are actually doing the killing are tricked into fighting. Same thing with the intervention of the United States...we are tricked into thinking it is for peaceful purposes rather than for oil.

[kılıç_mehmet]

I've only watched a truncated version of this so far, but if I understand correctly and the data is accurate it would seem that over 90% of suicide terrorism since 1980 has been perpetrated by occupied country's nationals against the occupying forces. This would run contrary to some assertions / implications that Islam is one of the root causes of suicide terrorism.

Well, I believe that the suicide terrorism type things are the courtesy of the NATO. They have trained individuals in their fight against communism both in terms of body and in terms of doctrine, and have endorsed religious extremism(or "green communism" as I like to call it) against "red" communism.

Really, what has changed? The green communists are as reckless and as mindless as their red counterparts.