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This is an informative article based on analysis of suicide attacks over the past 25 years. The interview glosses over a few points that are worth emphasizing. The goal of terrorism, by definition, is to cause fear, not subjugation or annihilation, which are the goals of war and genocide. When we talk about the war on terrorism (not terror, which is what terrorism causes) our goal is to get rid of terror causing agents (e.g. suicide bombings). If those terrorizing Iraq wanted to wage war against the west they wouldn’t bother with the mass bombings that we are seeing in Iraq, they would be attempting to commit them here (or in Spain or in Britain). The mass destruction and casualties (significant because of method and concentration, though statistically insignificant when compared with number of yearly deaths due to other causes) of the Sept. 11, March 11th or July 7th attacks has given people the impression that al-Qaeda et. al are somehow interested in waging war. By Pape’s logic, the Sept 11th hijackers were from Saudi Arabia because that is where the US had troops and where the US has influence. Their goal (though not necessarily bin Laden’s) was to terrorize US citizens into making our government get out of their land. The bottom line is, the more people feel like we are trying to change their way of life, the more likely they are to resort to drastic measures to counter that change. This research makes it painfully clear that invading Iraq was a disastrous move on our part when it comes to achieving our goal in the war on terrorism.