March 11, 2006: The next generation of suicide bombers is being indoctrinated right now. Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that got itself elected to run the Palestinian government, has a web sites for children interested in becoming suicide bombers. Attempts to get Hamas, and other Palestinian organizations, to stop this sort of indoctrination, have been unsuccessful. Western media won't touch the story, and Islamic governments usually refuse to pay much attention, much less criticize the practice. The Islamic radicals have made suicide bombing a legitimate tactic, turned suicide bombers into martyrs and made it acceptable to indoctrinate children to aspire to be a suicide bomber.

Iran openly recruits suicide bombers, and most Islamic nations tolerate recruiting, and soliciting charitable contributions of money to be paid to the families (who are usually quite poor) of suicide bombers. But in all this there is a terrorist vulnerability. Most Islamic scholars are quick (or require a little prodding) to point out that Islamic scripture does not approve of suicide attacks, and definitely does not approve of encouraging children to get involved. It's no accident that this issue keeps appearing in Middle Eastern media. Bribes to journalists, and contributions to the mosques of prominent religious scholars, keep the issue in play, and the terrorists on the defensive more than would otherwise be the case.