What motivates suicide bombers to sacrifice their lives and kill innocents?
That is one of the most complex and difficult questions that counter-terrorism officials have had to grapple with since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism (CPOST) – headed by University of Chicago Professor of Political Science Robert A. Pape – has assembled a comprehensive database of global suicide attacks from 1981 – 2001.
You can access that database here. Steve Clemons, fearless leader at The Washington Note and a poobah at the New America Foundation really loves Pape’s site and spent a lot of his vacation last week addicted to running variable mixes through Pape’s data.
Pape is also the author of Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.
To discuss the rise of suicide terrorism and its implications for our policy in Afghanistan, the New America Foundation/American Strategy Program will host a public forum featuring Robert Pape TODAY from 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm eastern time.
Steve Clemons will moderate the event, which will STREAM LIVE here at The Washington Note.
— Ben Katcher
28 comments on “LIVE STREAM: Robert Pape on Afghanistan And The Rise of Suicide Terrorism”