Bombs over Baghdad... The Depressing Truth

My morning ritual always includes coffee and a newspaper. I usually enjoy both on the ride into work. This morning was much of the same until I came across the following article:

Teen bomber rips Baghdad-

A 13 year old girl became the latest suicide bomber to bring carnage to Baghdad yesterday. An explosion damaged a bus full of schoolgirls and as a crowd gathered around the wreckage, the 13 year old detonated a suicide bomb. All told, 31 died and 71 were injured.

As a professional who has dedicated her career to adolescent development (with a special interest in females), this blurb brought tears to my eyes. I am pretty well informed (thanks to the PBS special "Bush's War) when it comes to the Iraq War. I have seen plenty of articles about Islamic extremists using women and children to carry out terrorism throughout Iraq. My eyes have poured through a few pieces on adolescent females and suicide bombings.

I can't help but to think- DAMN! When I was 13, I was worried about if Jeremy Hughes was ever going to notice my existence. I know that there is a huge cultural difference but there is NO way that it is developmentally feasible that this girl went into a crowd and blew up her classmates and bystanders without being coerced into it. Seriously, how INSANE is it that this girl blows herself up and kills 30 people at 13? Acts such as this one, do not anger me. They only succeed in making me so sad for the little girl who has been strapped with a bomb and told by a trustworthy adult that this is her destiny.

How scared did she have to be in the moments before pressing the detonator? Did she have second thoughts? Did she look over and see one of her best friends before she blew everyone up? Was she nervously biting her nails in the minutes preceding the first explosion? So many questions run through my mind when I think about this case. Questions that will never be answered but that are only human to ask. While it may not be "American" to feel anguish over a dead terrorist, I found myself paralyzed with grief this morning. Poor girl, poor world.

TRC- Imitation is suicide...

Sidenote: If you ever have an afternoon to spare (and you are a nerd like me), try to watch that PBS special. It will give you all the information you could ever need to know about the war in Iraq. It is simply amazing.