An operational deployment of a new weapon system: the not-so-smart bomb.

And before I am inundated with charges of cruelty and callousness, I would like to point out that one of my nieces has Down's Syndrome. This incident generates a particularly horrifying resonance in me.

Posted by: jay at February 6, 2008 7:49 AM

Assalamau Laikum Jay,

If I recollect from previous posts you have worked in the Saud for many years and have many muslim/muslima friends.

I think you can ally your fears by introducing your DS niece to these effendies. I can assure you of the utmost curtosey to her.

One of the best pastimes there is shopping...perhaps your niece would enjoy a nice slim (as they do these days) burka along with the others.

The slim burka will show you that there is no room for stupid belts....she has nothing to fear....are you up for this?

Posted by: Naseem at February 6, 2008 8:45 AM

Naseem - please pretend to stay on topic.

Posted by: tanstaafl at February 6, 2008 9:32 AM

The use of the term "suicide bombers" for what happened in this case really angers me. It was all through the news stories, but there is nothing suicidal about what happened. We in the West need to come up with a term that better captures the sheer depravity of what these Islamic beasts do to the "least among us" -- something that will provoke the appropriate level of revulsion in all people of good will.

Posted by: CJ at February 6, 2008 9:36 AM

"A 2007 NPR report also found that a substantial amount of suicide bombers in Afghanistan suffer from mental illnesses."

Of course they do; they're Islamic, aren't they?

Posted by: ebonystone at February 6, 2008 9:40 AM

Won't someone please delete Naseem's callous and off-topic comments posted at 8:45 am?

My younger brother is also affected by Down Syndrome, and I find these comments to be an all time low, even for this particular troll.

Thanks,
Cindy

Posted by: Abscedere at February 6, 2008 9:41 AM

No one whose bomb is detonated by someone else can be considered a "suicide bomber".

We may be appalled by how these bombers are using people who didn't have the capacity to make the decision themselves, but I would reserve my anger for these women's family members. These women weren't living alone, were they? Where were their male relatives? Were they cheering on the terrorists? Were they calling for jihad? Did they hand over these women for use as proxies? If a woman can't go out unaccompanied then how did al Qaeda get its hands on them except through their relatives?

Posted by: PMK at February 6, 2008 10:37 AM

This behaviour reaches the depths of depravity. What an evil, satanic cult Islam is!

Posted by: Sencit at February 6, 2008 10:48 AM

I have worked in a professional capacity with Down's Syndrome individuals and other developmental disabled individuals. The use of otherwise unwilling human delivery systems in order to shock and terrorize a world audience is the display of a sociopathic mindset.

Is Islam a religion or an excuse for sociopaths to use their anti-social behavior in the light of day?

Posted by: tanstaafl at February 6, 2008 11:05 AM

I am dyslexic as well as physically disabled. When a school. here in Canada many years ago theschool was somewhat unique there was one wing of the school that the so-called normal kids there was one wing that had the kids that were learning-disabled. A third wing had the physically handicapped youths
and the last wing had the mentally handicapped, and one thing we learned was those kids had a lot of love to give. They may not have been all that smart, but they sure were loving. Unfortunately, it also made them very vulnerable. And given how these Muslim disabled( come to think of it isn't being a Muslim, a mental disability naseem being a good example). So it's very disgusting to these terrorist animals using the mentally disabled
it makes me wonder as a handicapped person. Just how poorly the disabled are treated in an Islamic society

Posted by: sheepdog at February 6, 2008 11:50 AM

From article: One can’t help but wonder if there will come a time when the headline “Mentally Retarded Women Used in Bombings” no longer appalls us.

It will always 'appall' me but after a while it becomes just another chapter in the never ending
saga of the Islamic book of how to take care of business, the Quran. In other words terror needs to be escalated to remain terror. It needs to be forever an affront to every decent persons sensibilities, or it ceases to be terror. Terror turns into anger, and anger turns into retaliation. Terrorists are going for surrender or appeasement, not counter attack. So they must forever escalate an act of terror or lose it's effectiveness. They stopped beheading westerners, (at least as a spectacle with pomp and ceremony), because it became a useless tactic to impress the west. We are appalled by it, but won't yield to it. Something stronger is required.
Part of the terrorists psychological bag of tricks is to convince the enemy that they, (the terrorists), are ruthless and will stop at no dastardly deed.
That alone creates terror in some people.
It only convinces me that fire must be fought with fire. Fanning the flames won't help, and puring water on Islam wont clean it up or put out any fires. I am not talking necessarily about physical fire or water. Holding Islams feet to the fire as is done intellectually, and factually by many here, is one of the keys to undoing Islam. If that is not the case why do they try and put up a strong front against it? Islam can't stand a full public investigation as goes on in this mini climate daily. The truth brings light, light brings heat. Islams job is to try and pull the wool over our eye's. Our job is to forever keep the wool in place, our eyes wide open, and the fires stoked up...

Posted by: duh_swami at February 6, 2008 12:17 PM

Assalamau Laikum sheepdog,

I am very sorry to hear of your conditions...if you want I can pray for you for Allah Paak to provide you solace...but only if ask.

My earlier comment was not directed at anyone in particular....and I am not mentally unstable...infact I am very proud to be an Ahmadi muslima...I hope one day you can see what I see in Islam....and convert...not easy to describe...but I simply could not bear to have Allah T'allah out of my life.

As to deleteing my earlier post...I would be very disappointed if you did delete it. ...

Why?...because EVERYDAY I see my prophet, my God and my peoples abused and made a laughing stock of....by the postees here and that includes you too Cindy.

In the past you have made extremely scathing remarks about my religion and my culture...but I take it on the chin and argue my case....you should do the same....not be a 5 year old and run to mommy (in this case Marisol) and ask her to delete posts that you cannot stomach.

If you give it...you must learn to take it too...yes like me!

Posted by: Naseem at February 6, 2008 12:28 PM

Despite Naseem's nattering, nutty prose, we need to be proactively aware that it's just a matter of time before people start going BOOM here, at the hand of Naseem's co-religionists.

Here?

Here. What section of US society is the close equivalent of these mentally disabled women in the Iraq atrocity? That's right; some of the homeless wandering our streets, all over the US.

Many homeless spend most of their time, day and night, in a drunken or drug-induced stupor. How difficult would it be for some crafty terrorist to use one of our "less fortunate" citizens as a mule for bomb?

It's almost too easy.

Stay alert, unerschrocken.

Posted by: undaunted at February 6, 2008 12:43 PM

Think about this: what if some-one is a heroin addict, and is told that they can get their heroin free as long as they strap some explosives around their waist.

A drug addict who is desperate for a fix would not be able to say no.

A think that it's only a matter of time before we get suicide bombers in the west.

Posted by: Voltaire at February 6, 2008 2:47 PM

You're right, Voltaire. Just AMOT.

Posted by: undaunted at February 6, 2008 2:52 PM

A 2007 NPR report also found that a substantial amount of suicide bombers in Afghanistan suffer from mental illnesses.

In the days after 9/11, we read stories about how most of the hijackers did not know that theirs was a suicide mission; they were surprised when the plane was aimed into a building.

It proved to be a comforting falsehood, one that comes out of our common mistake of assuming that all people are basically the same. We think "How could there be so many homicidal fanatics? That doesn't make sense. No, it must have been a few extremists who took advantage of the vast majority of moderate hijackers." In fact, we learned that the hijackers knew what they signed up for. Their values made them think that they were doing something honorable, something for which their allah would reward them. And the fact that we don't want to face is that there are alot of people in the world who share those values, and who also think that they know the way to Islamic Paradise.

We continue to see jihadis immediately described by police and media as "lone mentally deranged individuals with no ties to terrorism" after they commit their attacks, and before anyone has had time to do a psychological profile or investigate their background. We continue to come up with any alternative explanation, other than that their actions are motivated by mainstream core Islamic beliefs.

Let's assume that these two women probably did not know what was going to happen to them. That doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of jihadis do understand what they are doing, and they think they are acting in accordance with mainstream Islamic teachings.

I see this incident as another example of the level of depravity that Islam is capable of. The media seem to see this incident as indicative that jihadis are usually uneducated people who are duped by the "few extremists".

Posted by: special_guest at February 6, 2008 4:09 PM