(2004 16 year old suicide bomber in Israel)
"The Taleban said God himself would ignite the vest. I did not have to do anything."- Farman Ullah
A recent Times article, There is no defense against these children of death, by Robert Baer. The article was run in addition to the UK Channel 4's airing of the Cult of the Suicide Bomber, which left many in a heated debate, or simply questioning the true end to what Baer calls “the cult of the suicide bomber”. Baer is a former CIA intelligence officer, who served in the Middle East, in counter-terrorism. The story was about a 17 year old Pakistani boy, Farman Ullah, who is the world's first remotely detonated human bomb. Honed with a remote controlled detonator, Farman, was to kill the pro-Western Governor of Jalabad. Armed with dreams of Paradise the 17 year old was nothing more than a remote controlled bomb, misguided and misled…and luckily for the Governor he was captured, before he could be detonated. But the debate for many as ensued over the question of labeling Farman, and his fellow child suicide bombers as killers or victims.
Therefore what do we do to stop children around the world from becoming suicide bombers? According to Baer, “it is that silent army of fathers, brothers, sisters and mothers who are the only real weapon against another generation of Farmans. …this an ideological battle that will be won, or lost, at the local mosque, at the family dinner table or between friends across the Islamic world. Suicide bombing will be defeated not by a gun or a fancy scanner but by the religious principles of Koran itself.”
Personally I have to agree with Baer on this one, in many aspects, only I wish it was as simple as it sounds. As with all types of youth violence and hate crimes, it must be dealt with at the root and very core of their young existence…at home, school, in church/temple/mosque, etc. Nonetheless, in order for this fight to be won at this level, other issues such as education/literacy, poverty, healthcare, etc., must be addressed. For a child to to grow up in such an environment, where his parents teach their child nothing other than the salvation that will come in death, and death alone…a parent who has raised a child for no other purpose, and dresses their child as a suicide bomber, what is the future? The lives of these children are far from our grasp, and we must address all the issues that surround, and fuel the “cult of the suicide bomber”!
Please see my previous post on child suicide bombers.
