ROBERT PAPE: Well, the London bombings are part of al-Qaeda's strategic logic that they have been pursuing with increasing vigour since 9/11.Let's break this down a bit, shall we...let's start the demographics. Pape states that what the democraphics tell us is that our policy of stationing military forces in these countries is what is causing terrorism, not Islamofascism. Nonsense! What his numbers fail to tell him is why exactly that is: religion.
The strategy, the strategic logic that holds these attacks together is not religion, but a specific strategic goal to compel the United States and other western states with forces on the Arabian Peninsula to pull those forces out. And the London attacks are simply the next step in al-Qaeda executing its strategic logic.
ELEANOR HALL: You say that al-Qaeda is not motivated by religion, by fanaticism or by Islamic fundamentalism. How do you explain that?
ROBERT PAPE: Dying to Win is the first book to collect a complete set of every suicide attacker for al-Qaeda – that is the 71 individuals from 1995 to early 2004 who actually killed themselves to carry out Osama's pact.
We have not only the number, but we have the names and nationality and other demographic information of 67 of the 71. The data shows that they come overwhelmingly from Sunni Muslim countries where the United States has stationed combat forces since 1990 on the territory that the terrorists prize as their homeland.
And we have even more information with this regard. You see, if it really was Islamic fundamentalism that was driving it, then we'd expect that the largest Islamic fundamentalist countries in the world would produce al-Qaeda suicide terrorists.
In fact, we find that that's not true. Of those 67 that I just told you about, none have come from Iran. Iran is certainly every bit as Islamic fundamentalist as Saudi Arabia, yet has never produced an al-Qaeda suicide terrorist.
Sudan, a population of 21 million, almost the same as Saudi Arabia, whose philosophy of Islamic fundamentalism is so congenial to Osama bin Laden that he chose to live there for three years in the 1990s, Sudan has never produced an al-Qaeda suicide terrorist.
This is really quite strong evidence that what's really the main mobilisation appeal of those al-Qaeda terrorists who are most lethal, who are most willing to kill us, is really coming from the presence of foreign troops on the Arabian Peninsula.
Now, let's talk about Iran. Pape says that Iran has not produced any al Qaeda suicide bombers, which is true. He thinks that's because we haven't stationed any troops there, but I think it is because Iran's fanatics join Hezzbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad. To them, al Qaeda are the new kids on the block...
As for Sudan, Sudan has its own problems to deal with...ever hear of Darfur?
Don't get me wrong, I think the basing is a factor; but I don't think it is the primary factor of why a person would blow themselves up.
