[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 95 (Thursday, July 14, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H5884-H5885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           SUICIDE TERRORISM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, more than half of the American people now 
believe that the Iraqi war has made the U.S. less safe. This is a 
dramatic shift in sentiment from 2 years ago. Early support for the war 
reflected a hope for a safer America, and it was thought to be an 
appropriate response to the 9/11 attacks. This argument was that the 
enemy attacked us for our defense of freedom, our prosperity, and our 
way of life. It was further argued that it was important to engage the 
potential terrorists over there rather than here. Many bought this 
argument and supported the war. That is now changing.
  It is virtually impossible to stop determined suicide bombers. 
Understanding why they sacrifice themselves is crucial to ending what 
appears to be senseless and irrational. But there is an explanation.
  I, like many, have assumed that the driving force behind the suicide 
attacks was Islamic fundamentalism. Promise of instant entry into 
paradise as a reward for killing infidels seemed to explain the 
suicides, a concept that is foreign to our way of thinking. The world's 
expert on suicide terrorism has convinced me to rethink this simplistic 
explanation that it is merely an expression of religious extremism and 
resentment of a foreign culture.
  Robert Pape, author of ``Dying to Win,'' explains the strategic logic 
of suicide terrorism. Pape has collected a database of every suicide 
terrorist attack between 1980 and 2004, all 462 of them. His 
conclusions are enlightening and crucial to our understanding the true 
motivation behind the attacks against Western nations by Islamic 
terrorists. After his exhaustive study, Pape comes to some very 
important conclusions.
  Religious beliefs are less important than supposed. For instance, the 
Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, a Marxist secular group, are the world's 
leader in suicide terrorism. The largest Islamic fundamentalist 
countries have not been responsible for any suicide terrorist attack. 
None have come from Iran or the

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Sudan. Until the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Iraq never had a suicide 
terrorist attack in all of its history. Between 1995 and 2004, the al 
Qaeda years, two-thirds of all attacks came from countries where the 
U.S. had troops stationed. Iraq's suicide missions today are carried 
out by Iraqi Sunnis and Saudis. Recall, 15 of the 19 participants of 
the 9/11 attacks were Saudis.
  The clincher is this: the strongest motivation, according to Pape, is 
not religious but rather a desire ``to compel modern democracies to 
withdraw military forces from the territory the terrorists view as 
their homeland.''
  The best news is that if stopping suicide terrorism is a goal we 
seek, a solution is available to us. Cease the occupation of foreign 
lands and the suicide missions will cease. Between 1982 and 1986, there 
were 41 suicide terrorist attacks in Lebanon. Once the U.S., the 
French, and Israel withdrew their forces from Lebanon, there were no 
more attacks. The reason the attacks stop, according to Pape, is that 
the Osama bin Ladens of the world no longer can inspire potential 
suicide terrorists despite their continued fanatical religious beliefs.
  Pape is convinced after his extensive research that the longer and 
more extensive the occupation of Muslim territories, the greater the 
chance of more 9/11-type attacks on the U.S. He is convinced that the 
terrorists strategically are holding off hitting the U.S. at the 
present time in an effort to break up the coalition by hitting our 
European allies. He claims it is just a matter of time if our policies 
do not change.
  It is time for us to consider a strategic reassessment of our policy 
of foreign interventionism, occupation, and nation-building. It is in 
our national interest to do so and in the interest of world peace.

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