Martyrs Without Borders

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American Strategy Program

The rate of suicide attacks in the Iraqi insurgency has surpassed the number of suicide operations by all previous insurgent groups combined, including those by Hezbollah in Lebanon, Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, and Hamas in Israel. Many of the suicide bombers are foreign volunteers--they come from neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia and Syria, and from as far away as North Africa and Europe. What motivates these foreign fighters to make this journey of death? Dr. Mohammed Hafez, author of Suicide Bombers in Iraq, will answer this and other vexing questions by examining the varied factions that comprise the Iraqi insurgency, the ideology and theology of martyrdom, and the prospects for a new generation of global jihadists forged in the crucible of Iraq.

Dr. Mohammed Hafez earned a Ph.D. in international relations from the London School of Economics and has received major research grants from the United States Institute of Peace and the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. He is the author of Suicide Bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom (2007); Manufacturing Human Bombs: The Making of Palestinian Suicide Bombers (2006); and Why Muslims Rebel: Repression and Resistance in the Islamic World (2003). He regularly appears on the Jim Lehrer News Hour and National Public Radio. Next year, he will join the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, as an associate professor of national security affairs.

Participants

• Dr. Mohammed Hafez
  Author
  Suicide Bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom
• Patrick C. Doherty
  Deputy Director, American Strategy Program
  New America Foundation