My wife Susan recently posted this on her Facebook page:
"We need to stop calling children 'suicide bombers'. Suicide is a choice. 8, 10, 17 year olds with bombs strapped to their bodies are victims of the most horrific child abuse."
Agreed. A child simply does not have consenting agency in becoming a terrorist. If they die with a bomb strapped to their body they are as much a murder victim as those who may die around them in a market or other public place.
In most all of these incidents we will never know what the child's experience was in the last hours of their life. We can be quite sure they were powerfully manipulated or forced to carry the bomb as the agent of an adult(s) who are the ones responsible for the killings. The child is neither responsible for the death of other victims or for ther own death -- as the word "suicide" implies.
Journalists and editors need to find another way of describing these incidents. I suggest wording such as this:
"Fifteen people died yesterday when terrorists set off a bomb in the central market. A child of 7, who was also killed in the incident, was used by the terrorists to carry the bomb into the center of the market."
Not as crisp as "suicide bomber," but much closer to reality. May I suggest that this is what journalists should be reporting.
Man in Box
