Guest speaker gives lecture on terrorist motivation

Arlington and Prince William January 29, 2013 at 8:26 pm Comments are Disabled

Dr. Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama, has set out to debunk that it is religion or bravery that causes terrorists to go on suicide missions. Dr. Lankford spoke last week at the Arlington campus for an event hosted by Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center. The lecture provided a forum of discussion between professors, scholars and some of the most influential minds in national security to share their thoughts and gain insight on Dr. Lankford’s new book, “The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self Destructive Killers.”   Dr. Lankford’s book notes that there are variables to review and apply to the Islamic world and the U.S. that are directly related to the role of organizations and social approval that affect suicide bombers, rampage shooters and self-destructive killers. These variables can change the landscape and through his research he provides analysis of what it would take to change the occurrence of suicide attacks. “To merely dismiss these individuals as ‘crazy’ or ‘monsters’ wrongly behests the root of what makes them suicidal,” Lankford said. Dr. Lankford has written for The New York Times, Foreign Policy, Wired, The Daily Beast, […]