Daniel Drezner pointed me to this story in the NY Times about suicide bombings. The author "compiled a database of every suicide bombing and attack around the globe from 1980 through 2003 - 315 in all" and found that religious motivations are much less prevalent than conventional wisdom would suggest.
What nearly all suicide terrorist attacks actually have in common is a specific secular and strategic goal: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists consider to be their homeland. Religion is often used as a tool by terrorist organizations in recruiting and in seeking aid from abroad, but is rarely the root cause.
...Understanding that suicide terrorism is mainly a response to foreign occupation rather than a product of Islamic fundamentalism has important implications for how the United States and its allies should conduct the war on terrorism. Spreading democracy across the Persian Gulf is not likely to be a panacea so long as foreign combat troops remain on the Arabian Peninsula.
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