Dying to win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism
Robert Pape
Scribe. 352 pages. $35

EACH day we can read in the news how another suicide bomb has been used as the ultimate guided weapon system.

From Sri Lanka to Israel, they have often been regarded as a tool of religious fanatics, but Pape’s academic approach reveals that religion often has only a veneer role to play, if any role at all.

Dying to win is a study that reveals how the role of every suicide campaign from 1980 to 2003 has been to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that terrorists view as their homeland.

Pape’s critical analysis of the suicide terrorist makes for interesting reading, but it falls down in two main areas. First, the study covers the period up to 2003, omitting the many recent attacks that have plagued the world.

Second, Pape’s recommendations to policy makers seem to be in line with the terrorist’s demands, that is, remove the western troops from the regions of conflict.

Anyone contemplating reading this book should be aware that it is essentially an academic text, but for those who want to get into the mindset of the suicide terrorists this book will give you a valuable insight into their frightening world.

– Cpl Cameron Jamieson