On Sept. 6-7, 2005, the New
America Foundation hosted "Terrorism, Security & America's Purpose,"
a policy forum featuring scholars, elected officials, intelligence experts,
and journalists. A full list of speakers is available here.
In his presentation, Professor Robert Pape of the University of Chicago outlined
the thesis of his most recent book, Dying
to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. Pape's exhaustive
quantitative analysis has led
him to conclude that suicide attacks "are not driven by religion as
much as they are by a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies
to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their
homeland." This
15-minute video provides a helpful introduction to Pape's work. (Requires
Windows Media Player.)
