Suicide bombers have become a mainstay in today's modern warfare, we have become hardened by their continual actions and rarely does one become shocked to see headlines like, “suicide bomber kills 11”. Modern suicide bombing began in the 1980's during the Lebanese Civil War, and has since spread to more than 12 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Palestine and Israel, with attacks in some 30 countries. The use of suicide bombers has dramatically increased since its modern beginnings in the 198o's which saw an average of 4.7 attacks a year to 180 attacks a year in the first half of the 2000's (The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism Fig. 1, p.128).
While suicide bombing incidents are now steadfastly becoming a weapon of modern warfare, these human bombs are most often not the sound and hungry disciples that their leaders and trainers portray in their rhetoric. Just this month two suicide bombers in Iraq where discovered to be mentally disabled, as following the deadly attack both bombers where revealed to have Downs Syndrome (Blasts in Iraq markets kill 91). Sadly the use of the disabled as suicide bombers is hardly an isolated case. A 2007 study in Afghanistan, found 80% of the suicide attackers had some kind of physical or mental disability (Disabled Often Carry Out Afghan Suicide Missions).
These are not heartless killers, but manipulated people who's minds and bodies have been enslaved by the terror that is placed upon them over and over by those who see vengeance as a tool which wins battles. This misguided approach to warfare not only hinders the ability to win wars, but leaves countless victims that are manipulated into acts for which they do not understand the extent of their actions. Yes, it is true that many suicide bombers go forth with these acts of a sound mind and their own free will, but we must remember that what makes someone act in such a manner is still based on deception and misconception. However it is not these actors in which sends fear into society the most, it is the acts of mere children.
The use of child suicide bombers appears to be increasing, and while many children are educated and reared into this deadly fate, many are thankfully saved or removed before their actions have deadly consequences. Many have seen the images of infants and toddlers dressed in mock suicide bomber outfits in Palestine, and while they may not commit such acts when they grow-up, their fate is one undoubtedly leaning towards violence.
Many children are being taught the ways of suicide bombing in religious schools, others by their parents or other relatives, however it is the use of religious schools that are on the rise. In Pakistan this has been seen with the use `madrassah' (seminary schools) as a source point of indoctrinating children into the life and death of a suicide bomber seems to be increasing. Rehma, her husband Shaukat fearfully removed their son Zarak from the seminary, and packed then moved the entire family away after they where shocked at his talk of suicide bombings and paradise (Child suicide bombers "victims of the most brutal exploitation"). In Pakistan the there were 56 suicide attacks in 2007 alone, a number which many fear will only rise in 2008.
The question of weather or not these children are terrorist or victims seems clear to manythey are victims of those who brainwash and lead them to this future less life. It is the cowards who prey on the innocent, never seeming to take action themselves, they just continue to spew this deadly rhetoric and watch as their victims take the lives of other innocent victims, that are the true terrorists.
Please see my previous posts on child suicide bombers here.
