Review of Pape's Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism
DYING TO WIN: THE STRATEGIC LOGIC OF SUICIDE TERRORISM
CPT WILL M. HELIXON
The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001 and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men, the shock troops of a hateful ideology, gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the beginning of the end of America. By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation's resolve and force our retreat from the world. They have failed .
Over twenty-eight months after President Bush roared those words to the world, the United States still has approximately 138,000 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq , catastrophic havoc caused by Hurricane Katrina plagues the Gulf Coast , an undeniably inadequate government emergency response ensued and President George Bush's approval ratings are at their lowest point in his presidency . Despite the announced end to "combat operations" in Iraq and the declaration that the suicide terrorists have "failed", since the election of the new Iraqi government, there have been daily suicide bombing in Iraq against U.S. Forces . Two single days in September 2005 have been the bloodiest, with nearly 200 Iraqis killed by the hands of suicide terrorists . As a result, many Americans are questioning the administration's current policy toward Iraq, including doubting the need for the large presence of American troops in Iraq .
Dying to Win is a timely book that concludes the cause of suicide terrorism is the presence of foreign troops as an occupying force in a weaker state . It specifically concludes that the cause of suicide terrorism against the United States is the presence of combat troops in Iraq and on the Arabian Peninsula . Dying to Win is one of the first attempts to address the critical questions surrounding suicide terrorism and
CPT WILL M. HELIXON
The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001 and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men, the shock troops of a hateful ideology, gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the beginning of the end of America. By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation's resolve and force our retreat from the world. They have failed .
Over twenty-eight months after President Bush roared those words to the world, the United States still has approximately 138,000 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq , catastrophic havoc caused by Hurricane Katrina plagues the Gulf Coast , an undeniably inadequate government emergency response ensued and President George Bush's approval ratings are at their lowest point in his presidency . Despite the announced end to "combat operations" in Iraq and the declaration that the suicide terrorists have "failed", since the election of the new Iraqi government, there have been daily suicide bombing in Iraq against U.S. Forces . Two single days in September 2005 have been the bloodiest, with nearly 200 Iraqis killed by the hands of suicide terrorists . As a result, many Americans are questioning the administration's current policy toward Iraq, including doubting the need for the large presence of American troops in Iraq .
Dying to Win is a timely book that concludes the cause of suicide terrorism is the presence of foreign troops as an occupying force in a weaker state . It specifically concludes that the cause of suicide terrorism against the United States is the presence of combat troops in Iraq and on the Arabian Peninsula . Dying to Win is one of the first attempts to address the critical questions surrounding suicide terrorism and