Terrorist Use Retarded Women With Down Syndrome In Bombimg Attack At Pet Store
 

Militants strapped a pair of mentally retarded women with explosives and blew them up by remote control in two pet bazaars on Friday, killing at least 91 people in the deadliest day since Washington began pouring extra troops into the capital last spring.

Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi, Iraq's chief military spokesman in Baghdad, said the women had Down syndrome and may not have known they were on a suicide mission.

The tactic would support US claims that al-Qaeda in Iraq may be increasingly desperate and running short of able-bodied men willing or available for such missions.

As of early yesterday, Iraqi officials were unable to break down the higher death toll in the two bombings. The police and interior ministry officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said the bombings showed that a resilient al-Qaeda has "found a different, deadly way" to try to destabilize Iraq.

"There is nothing they won't do if they think it will work in creating carnage and the political fallout that comes from that," he said in an interview at the US State Department.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the bombing in Iraq proved al-Qaeda was "the most brutal and bankrupt of movements" and would strengthen Iraqi resolve to reject terrorism.

Earlier, officials had said the first bomber was detonated about 10:20am in the central al-Ghazl market.

Four police and hospital officials said at least 46 people were killed and more than 100 people were wounded.

Local police said the woman wearing the bomb sold cream in the mornings at the market and was known to locals as "the crazy lady."

The weekly pet bazaar had been bombed several times during the war; but with violence declining in the capital, the market had regained popularity as a shopping district and place to stroll on Fridays, the Muslim day of prayer.

But this Friday offered a scene of carnage straight out of the worst days of the conflict. Firefighters scooped up debris scattered among pools of blood, clothing and pigeon carcasses.

The attacks were the latest in a series of violent incidents that frayed a gossamer of Iraqi confidence in the permanence of recent security gains.

The US military in Iraq issued a statement that shared "the outrage of the Iraqi people, and we condemn the brutal enemy responsible for these attacks, which bear the hallmarks of being carried out by al-Qaeda in Iraq."

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani confirmed the death toll was about 70 and said the attacks were the work of committed by terrorists motivated by revenge and "to show that they are still able to stop the march of history and of our people toward reconciliation."

But Navy Commander Scott Rye, a US military spokesman, gave far lower casualty figures -- seven killed and 23 wounded in the first bombing, and 20 killed and 30 wounded in the second.

He confirmed, however, both attacks were carried out by women wearing explosives vests and said the attacks appeared coordinated and likely the work of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

While involving women in such deadly activity violates cultural taboos in Iraq, the US military has warned that al-Qaeda is recruiting women and young people as suicide attackers because militants are increasingly desperate to thwart security measures. Syria also has reportedly tightened its border with Iraq, a main transit point for incoming foreign bombers.

Women in Iraq often wear abayas, the black Islamic robe, and avoid thorough searches at checkpoints because men are not allowed to touch them and there are too few female police.

While astonishingly brutal, the use of the mentally disabled in suicide bombings is not unprecedented in Iraq. In January 2005, Iraq's interior minister said that insurgents used a disabled child in a suicide attacker on election day. Police at the scene of the bombing said the child appeared to have Down syndrome.

Many teenage boys were among the casualties in the al-Ghazl bombing on Friday, officials said.

Link:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worl.../03/2003400082

Got a link for that article?

First you asked me to stop posting links to other websites...

Now you want one :rolleyes:

Here it is :)

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worl.../03/2003400082

when you are quoting something as news or an article - yeah - put a link there.

You're an academic, aren't you, Classic? Always with the footnotes, always the bibliographies...

The BBC is carrying the story too: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7223769.stm


Wow, that is a new low. "Here, put on this special vest and go shopping at the pet market... " I don't have an obscenity strong enough to express my contempt for that.

I don't know what to say...I can't even begin to put myself into the sort of mindset that would allow me to do something so incredibly despicable.

May I suggest that we retaliate by strapping explosives to child molesters and sending them into Al Qaeda strongholds?

I love it! Good one Elspode. :D

thats really good, Els. :::Thinkin of logistics:::
Where's Reg Joe when you need him?

The enemy are finding people least likely to get checked. Girls and women tend to top the list.

Only because of misogyny is the reason that women aren't used more frequently.

Besides how do we know that the women are 'retarded'? Couldn't the 'Down syndrome' shape of their heads come because of the bombing itself?

Molestors will be shot on sight. Think like a terrorist people.

This is very bad if its true

Why is this any worse than the other bombers? Sure, there is visible evidence that the bombers aren't wired exactly right, but really, can you make a case that anyone willing to strap a bomb on themselves doesn't have some malfunction?

While suicide bombings are horrible, the original bombers are doing it for something they believe is right. They chose to put that bomb on. I am assuming that these two disabled women did not choose to do this by themselves. My inner mommy brain makes this feel worse to me because if that is the case, those women were completely taken advantage of like small innocent children. Therein lies the difference, in my mind anyway.

Now, is it worse to kill those disabled women or the innocent others in the plaza at the time? IF you believe a life is a life, then there is no difference. This is no more horrible than any of the other bombings.
Which is where I ultimately have to file this despite my initial gut reaction.

I sure don't need to add anything.

We're not bombing the opposition with retarded citizens.

Thats actually not suppose to be true, hence why this situation is so unusual.

Most suicide bombers morality and thinking from 1980 on are not very different than the Japanese kamakizee pilots in WWII. They are a bunch of young nationalistic men and women who are willing to sacrifice their life for the greater good (the greater good is obviously perspective).

If you look at notes of speeches left by past suicide bombers, Hezbollah's are a great example even though I don't have any specific examples, they feel they are being forcefully occupied by a foreign nation, which has basically been true in every recent suicide bombing, and feels that the most effective way to fight this occupying country, which is also always a democracy, is suicide bombing.

There has not been a single instance recorded of a suicide bomber being forced to fulfill a mission and brainwashing is very unlikely as well since most bombers are volunteers off the street.

I can't really tell what this instance means, whether these terrorist groups had a mentally retarded woman volunteer without any forceful outside influence or whether they are not getting enough people to volunteer and are starting to prey on the weak minded now.


This book does a good job at explaining suicide terrorism:
http://www.amazon.com/Dying-Win-Stra.../dp/1400063175

Pierce, I hope you aren't out of time to edit. Pray is an unfortunate error when you meant prey.

America's, and therefore global democracy's, enemies are a remarkably scummy, base lot, aren't they?

Study: Female suicide bombers seek atonement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_s...inian_conflict

UT you should be ashamed of yourself. Quit trying to pop MASHman's bubble and just admit that they are a noble people who have been pushed into these extreme actions by our malicious meddling in the middle east.

From the same source:

You don't think this sort of atmosphere would produce suicide terrorists without the need of full out brainwashing? The Japanese did not to be brainwashed to fly their planes into US ships, they were raised in an environment where altruistic suicide was looked as noble, and the same environment exists and probably exceeds in Palestine.

http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/alumni/news_...20_suicide.pdf


What UT quoted could very well be exactly true in some cases, I don't doubt it, but the fact still remains that these bombers have to be raised in a certain social environment to go to that level. Every quote here shows two persuasive forces, the social resistance to the occupying force and a group that wants to fight that occupation for a variety of reasons and are willing to use the social resistance to their advantage. Maybe I underestimated the amount of influence by these groups, I realize I will never always have a true view on this matter, but that second factor is still present and strong enough for me to legitimately claim that as the more powerful influence of the two. From the sources that I have read, every suicide bombing has occurred when a foreign nation with a different religion has occupied and threatened the lifestyle of the people in the occupying country. Some may be more extreme than others but that trend still remains. If you can find something different, I would like you to show me Lookout.

I was not trying to throw in some anti-imperialistic slant in my previous post but every suicide bombing I have seen has been a result of imperialism in some way or another so don't attack my intentions or my "bubble".

No, you just have retarded citizens sending other people to bomb the opposition. :)

What sort of environment are they raised in to blow up their own people and not the perceived invaders/enemy?

:lol2:

You say you couldn't find a counter-example in everything you've read. But you pointed one out... in your previous paragraph.

The Japanese: occupied by whom?

Isn't it a fact that any soldier for any country that goes to war must be going off to that war with knowledge that they'll be dying for their country regardless of whether they do end up dying or not?

I really fail to see much difference in the two other than the method of death.

"Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." Patton

Of course, Patton being a general, the "other poor dumb bastard" could be one of his own frontline troops.

Are you trying to say that our generals look at their troops as nothing more than "Poor dumb bastards"?

Marc Sageman in his book "Leaderless Jihad" defines how a terrorist is created. The process has four stages that begin with 'moral outrage'. Second step is a "morality play" where an inadvertent recruit sees his people at war. (How curious - the same attitude is found among 'big dic' thinkers who automatically use same rationalization to view war as the only solution.) Stage three is when personal and global grievances merge; triggered by personal frustration such as joblessness or discrimination (and no electricity, sewage in the street, children dying from no basic services, no education, soldiers firing 50 cal weapons at everyone out of fear, no potential future, a completely incompetent government … exactly what George Jr, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bremmer, Wolfovitz, Rice, etc created in Iraq). This is the point that others might call brainwashing.

The last stage is when a potential recruit crosses over; joins an actual terrorist cell to find a nurturing family of 'jihadists' who will prepare and equip him for his ultimate objective. Very few - hardly any - make the journey from stage three to stage four.

The trick to subverting terrorism addresses those earlier stages. President Cheney's agenda did nothing but encourage so many potential recruits to rise to stage three. Israel's actions - especially the illegal settlements of the West Bank and Gaza - did same to so many Palestinians. Even their last stupid invasion of Lebanon only made things worse.

How do we undo this mess? Addressing the reasons for stages one through three will probably take a decade just as a decade of ignorance was necessary to create the problem. In Iraq, America was so stupid that it only took a few years to drive so many to stage three.

The old biblical prophesy applies: "As thou sow so shall thou reap". It can easily take Israel a decade to weed that garden. Is Israel willing to withstand a decade of missile attacks before smarter policies finally terminate terrorism? ‘Big dic’ mentalities only believe in immediate solutions.

America has it easier. We need only leave what George Jr created and the problem starts curing itself. "If you break it, you own it”, said Colin Powel. But he was talking to someone too stupid and too wacko extremists to understand, and who under orders from Cheney.

Since so few potential recruits move on to stage four, it suggest how many are so angry as to be at stage three. Solutions to terrorism start by addressing the reasons that created stage three. It also explains why overt military action ('big dic' thinking such as blaming everything on a mythical Al Qaeda) only makes things worse.

Meanwhile, were the women retarded? It's an old political trick even used effectively by Hitler. Push the rumor. Then the least intelligent will always believe the rumor and agressively deny the truth when it arrives. There is no reason to believe these women were retarded. None expect the power of propaganda. Propagandists would also fear you learn the four stages of terrorism.

Sageman and tw work this issue the same way: if something doesn't fit your personal narrative, pound away at it until it does fit. A big enough mental hammer can put any square peg into a round hole.

In fact the majority of modern Jihadis are more well-off and more highly educated than their average non-jihadi brethren. The jihadis in Britain are often medical students, for example.

One wonders, too, how Tim McVeigh fits into the narrative. Hmm, not at all. Or how the "answer" in Lebanon isn't preventing the jihadis from assassinating everyone in the "incompetent government" because the "incompetent government" is trying to use its army to eject them.

And if you don't have a big enough hammer to pound your square peg, just pretend the peg is round. Problem solved, narrative proudly upheld.

I read an article in Scientific American where a criminal psychologist profiled suicide bombers. They weren't poor, under-priveleged, unintelligent, or overly-religious. They were generally upper middle-class, well-educated, and politically active. Basically, the equivelant of, in this country, a loud-mouth jackass carrying a picket sign in front of the news cameras. Only the picket sign is a bomb, and the news outlet is the entire planet.

First, I meant suicide bombers after 1980. Second, the Japanese pilots only became suicidal after the threat of foreign occupation was very real. So, the formula still works. The Japanese felt that American, and especially Soviet, occupation would threaten their entire lifestyle and culture so many gave up their lives to protect that.


Yes, it is true that the majority of suicide bombers do not come from the lower class and are educated but there is no single social or religious background that suicide terrorists come from. Suicide terrorists have been lower class to upper class, none to doctorate education, religious fundamentalist to atheist, and so on.

This diversity makes it really hard to find people who will become potential terrorists but there is one factor that all recent suicide terrorists groups have in common, and I have pointed that out many times already.


To back up tw and his source, just because the actual terrorist didn't experience poverty doesn't mean that he or she will be outraged that other people in his or her country are in it. Also, for prevention, tw's source is probably the most effective.

"nothing more than"? No. But he's already applying "bastard" to both sides, and anyone used as a sacrifice in war certainly could be called "poor". I guess you could object to "dumb", but I doubt that would be among the worst things soldiers call each other.

Ironic is that your own quoted post agrees with Sageman. Stage three. Do all or most females who must atone for sins go to stage four? No. Ironic is that UT wants to agrue with a post that agrees with his post.

UT, why do you want to argue? Are you moving to stage three? Many dangerous terrorists are home grown.

Meanwhile, what does it take to create a terrorist? Years of what eventually drives him to stage four. What does it take to stop terrorism once years of mistakes were made? All those problems that justify his anger must be removed.

What does not take to undo terrorism faster? Notice the awesome shock created by the Oslo Accords to undo years of terrorism. Notice what it took Sharon to restart terrorism. Sharon simply tapped into and encouraged the reasons (long nutured biases) that pushed potential recruits into stage four.

Those who think terrorism will be stopped by violence are fooling only themselves. Terrorism is terminated by addressing the reasons for stages one through three. To stop terrorism means going after problems that justify suicidial bombings. Well proven is how wars are avoided. Great leaders ask and get answered an important question. "But what does he see? What is he being told? Why does he believe what he does?"

Only a fool believes shooting a terrorist will stop others from being terrorists. More often, its the other way around. That violence may only encourage others to also move to stage four. Stopping terrorism means going after the reasons why a potential recruit moves to stage three and stage four.

There's only one thing to say to that post.

flaps!

Successful, persistent terrorist movements arise within the nations in the Non-Integrating Gap. There is where the conditions exist to make the stages and the progression through them.

It is simple: no more Gap, no more problem. Though no one with a year's experience of international relations expects Sevareid's Law to go into suspension on that account. The business will still take some time before the Gap is all moving into the New Core nations or the Seam States, a rather muzzy category of nations at a socially turbulent point in the transition.

Damn, I didn't know Ted Kaczynski, Timothy McVeigh or Terry Nichols, worked at the Gap.

Yeah I found this news story on DailyRotten.com, and couldn't help but giggle at their creative little headline: "Tard Bomb."

No wonder retail sales have dropped. They lost their star salesmen.

:eek: :lol2: