What's Needed Besides the Phenomenon of Suicide Bombing?

Submitted by Ron Thompson (United States), Mar 10, 2008 at 18:02

It remains hard to believe that anyone in a responsible news position like Mr Bennett of the Post would need anything besides the widespread and numerous suicide bombings to at least consider - to entertain as a hypothesis - that there is a profound pathology in Islam.

I agree that it is necessary to have regular charts showing the deaths and dreadful woundings of American and allied personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as far as is known, of all other deaths there as well. But I think we need much more coverage of the phenomenon of suicide bombing. I'd like to see a map, especially of the Middle East, but also of Europe and elsewhere in the world, including the 9/11 sites of course, showing just how many suicide bombings there have been.

I'd like to see a map covered with red dots, and numbers in brackets of those killed and of how many were civilians. I'd also like to see quotes of how these attacks are condemned, if at all, by Moslem leaders political, religious, and cultural. I'd also like to see what I suspect is the far more frequent language which excuses and condones these attacks, or flat out celebrates them as "blessings" that honor Allah and Islam.

It is also annoying that there was no footage I saw of the cheering on the streets of Gaza that was barely written about after the latest suicidal shooting spree in Jerusalem. Especially is this artificial forbearance irresponsible when footage of the results of Israel defending itself is run with endlessly inflammatory repetition on Al Jazeera and elsewhere.

Ron Thompson

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