The One with the 18yr Old Suicide Bomber

18yr Old Suicide Bomber in Palestine (23-09-04)

This picture shocked me out of my wits (just like the Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal pictures did!) I never expected the local Saudi Gazette to publish this. They just never publish anything like this. I am publishing it here not because I am saying that it is all right to go bomb other people (which is a very debatable issue and a very sensitive one) but am putting it here because it breaks my heart to see someone like her, who is merely 18yrs old, come to such a desperate situation. It breaks my heart to see people like her, not just in Palestine, but world over, who are robbed of their childhood: young people forced into child labor, exploited, prostitution, abused, harassed, killed, murdered, child soldiers and so on and on.

This is not an aim to make you feel guilty. This is not an attempt to justify suicide bombers. This is just something that has touched my heart deeply. I still wonder what the girl was thinking that morning. I still think about her emotions and feelings as she proceeded to go ahead with this act.

Its not a pretty scene, I agree, but I think thats the reality of the situation, and it is upto people like us to at least pray for a more peaceful world! The future generations deserve a better world than the world we received from the older generation!

Take care folks,

Mansur