Female human bombs

Washington Times:

A female suicide bomber who blew herself up yesterday on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion reflects an expansion of the pool of terrorist recruits and a new favorite tactic in the war in Iraq.

The bomber killed five persons and wounded two policemen in the town of Balad Ruz northeast of Baghdad, according to a statement from the U.S. military. She is the 18th female bomber since the war began, the second this week, and the seventh this year alone.

"Everybody is scared of women" now, said Firas, a young man who travels to work in the heavily protected International Zone from his home in Baghdad every day.

The U.S. military has said the increased use of female bombers indicates that the terrorists are being squeezed to the point that they are being forced to resort to using women.

"The use of female suicide bombers, which runs counter to Arabic values, whereby women are supposed to be protected, is precisely the kind of reprehensible activity that has turned Iraqis against al Qaeda," the U.S. military press center said in a statement to The Washington Times yesterday.

Clark McCauley, professor of psychology at Bryn Mawr College, argues that the pattern is double-edged.

"It could be because many of the usual avenues of access are being blocked for men, and they are turning to women as a better weapon," Mr. McCauley said. But in using women, he added, the terrorists also are "in a broader sense mobilizing the whole population."

...

The enemy is upping the ante in its violation of the Geneva Conventions. Its camouflaging of its forces as civilians has endangered all civilians and by adding females to that group it has enlarged the number of people it has endangered. It is also a sign of the enemy's weakness. These women are not Rosy the Riveter as implied by McCauley. They are similar to the children that are brought in to fight in a losing effort. In other words they are a sign of desperation.

Arab and Muslim dress codes make their use easier because it is easier to hide the ordnance. It will result in more women being used to search women going into market places.

It is still surprising to me that even conservative papers like the Washington Times do not discuss the Geneva Convention implications of enemy operations. If liberals think that the conventions are so important that the US should follow them, then they should be put on notice when a wicked enemy does not.