Dan Drezner’s post reminds me to plug Robert Pape’s op-ed in today’s New York Times. It’s always good — and all too rare — to see political scientists contributing to the national debate. Here’s the key graf:

Over the past two years, I have compiled a database of every suicide bombing and attack around the globe from 1980 through 2003 – 315 in all. This includes every episode in which at least one terrorist killed himself or herself while trying to kill others, but excludes attacks authorized by a national government (like those by North Korean agents against South Korea). The data show that there is far less of a connection between suicide terrorism and religious fundamentalism than most people think.