Read this eloquent account of the problem in the Australian newspaper The Age:
Amar was 19, but he had the mind of a four-year-old. This handicap didn’t stop the insurgency’s hard men as they strapped explosives to his chest and guided him to a voting centre in suburban Al-Askan.
And before yesterday’s sunrise in Baghdad, his grieving parents loaded his broken remains on the roof of a taxi to lead a sorrowful procession to the holy city of Najaf. There, they gave him a ceremonial wash, shrouded him in white cotton and buried him next to the shrine of Imam Ali, the founder of their Shiite creed.
This is cowardice on top of cowardice on top of cowardice. Terrorism is a cowardly act. Getting someone else to commit a suicide bombing is even worse, because it shows that the solicitors didn’t have the courage to give their own lives for the evil deed. These first two levels of cowardice are routine in the Arab world, and far too prevalent.
But this story calls for the creation of a whole new Circle of Hell. These insurgents, who somehow think that blowing up women who want to vote will strike out against the great demon of the West, took advantage of a man with the mental ability of a four year-old. This person could certainly not appreciate the quality of his actions, and definitely did not “decide” in any meaningful way to give himself to the cause.
The insurgency probably doesn’t realize it, but its actions have a political element to them. In order for the insurgency to succeed, they will have to achieve the unlikely goal of making people believe that their ends are so just that it calls for their own sacrifice and, in this case, the sacrifice of others. (This is really the key to martyrdom, that in killing oneself for a cause it shows how just that person’s cause is. The fact that the “martyrs” in this case are killing others as well, however, makes it much tougher for the insurgents to succeed.) When the insurgents show that they aren’t even “brave” enough to give their own lives, but instead must brainwash the mentally disabled to do their bidding, they lose any chance at appearing to be martyrs. They look like the most odious of murders — which they are — even to people who may ordinarily be sympathetic to their cause. They look more like agents of mayhem than fighters against Western influence. I hope this story is trumpeted loudly throughout the Arab world. It may be just what is needed to show all Arabs that there is a cancer in their ranks that must finally be removed.
Update: Power Line now has a story up on this too, with some interesting insights.
Nathan Novak at 1:50 pm
