According to the Associated Press (
February 1, 2008
), remote-controlled explosives strapped to two mentally retarded women detonated in a coordinated attack on Baghdad pet bazaars on Friday, killing at least 73 people. The women had Down Syndrome. Considering the explosives were detonated by remote control, they probably were completely unaware that they were to be used as human bombs. The attacks were most likely the work of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.Associated Press records show that since the start of the war, at least 151 people have been killed in about 17 attacks by female suicide bombers. Involving women in fighting violates cultural taboos in Iraq, but Al-Qaeda in Iraq is recruiting females to perform suicide attacks because militants are increasingly desperate for volunteers. Women in Iraq wear the long black overgarments called
abayas
, and can avoid searches at checkpoints, because men are not allowed to search them, and there aren't enough female guards. This is an obvious "PC" mistake - this is war, and such proprieties need to be put by the wayside, because people are being murdered.I wish NOW (the National Organization for Women) would spend less time on rants assuring women that murdering the babies in their bodies is some kind of noble "right," and spend their time in the Middle East, protecting women from being used as cannon fodder.
