Iraq's female bombers

Photo: More than 20 bombings were carried out by women in Iraq this year. (Google photo)

There has been quite an increase in female suicide bombers in Iraq this year. As the caption said, more than 20 in Iraq in the first six months of the year.

Pretty unbelievable. Pretty unbelievable that someone would be willing to commit suicide in order to hurt other people. This article takes a look at what some of the reasons for a suicide bombing. One major reason would be revenge.

Um Mustafa, 41, is training to become a bomber to revenge the killing of her husband and two children by US occupation forces. "US troops destroyed my life, killed thousands of Iraqis and have support from many who also are betrayers," she told IslamOnline.net. "I lost my children and husband and have no reason to be in this world anymore." Um Mustafa's husband and her two children were killed during a US blitz in the western city of Fallujah in 2004. Since then, her desire for revenge has never died down.

Some are doing it to free their country of the occupiers:

Shamis Muhammad [not her real name], 19, is training to become a bomber to help free Iraq from the US occupation. "When I told my parents that I was going to become a suicide bomber, my mother got desperate and tried everything to make me to desist from this idea," she told IOL. "However, my heart was clean and telling me that I had to defend my religion and country from invaders. "My father had a long conversation with me when I told him my decision and the only thing he did was take the holy book, put over my head, pray for me to succeed and ask me to be careful.

It is horrible that these women (or men, for that matter) feel they need to do this kind of violence on themselves and on their fellow humans. I personally feel that the Iraqis have every right to kick the occupiers out of their land, but I also believe the only way to effectively do that without destroying their own country, is to do it by non-violent resistance.

As to the women who feel compelled to commit a suicide bombing because of grief and a desire for revenge – I think they just went crazy from the stress of their losses – the deaths of their loved ones, the destruction of their homes and towns and country, the loss of a regular life and the loss of their own mental health.