The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Send In The Girls
by James Dunnigan
January 20, 2010
Palestinian terror groups are having a hard time recruiting suicide bombers. So they are making a pitch to women. Palestinian TV and news websites helped by recently honoring the first female Palestinian suicide bomber, Wafa Idris. She died in 2002, while murdering one Israeli and wounding another 150. The two major Palestinian political parties; Fatah (which controls the West Bank) and Hamas (which controls Gaza), both use their mass media to praise those who die while trying to kill Israelis. But these efforts have been increasingly unsuccessful, and Palestinians are less eager to volunteer for suicide bomber duty. Last year, for example, not a single Israeli was killed, inside Israel, by a Palestinian terrorist.
A similar trend occurred in Iraq a few years back, and for a while, the local Islamic terror groups had some success in recruiting women to do the suicide bombing work. But the women eventually noted that most of the victims were civilians, and lost enthusiasm for this sort of thing. Undeterred, Palestinian leaders have been amping up the suicide bomber recruiting propaganda directed at children. Terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan have tried using kids as young as nine or ten as suicide bombers (often without telling the kids exactly what would happen to them). Families of the bombers are usually paid at least a few thousand dollars, to "honor" the heroism of their child. Very poor families see this as a win-win situation (losing one of many children that were difficult to care for, and making a whole lot of money). There is also social pressure, with everyone encouraged to show respect to the families of suicide bombers. The reality is different, but in places like Iraq, Gaza and Afghanistan, reality doesn't count for much.
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