The dust (and blood) has barely settled after the recent horrific suicide bombings in Iraq that were conducted by al Qaeda in Iraq detonating suicide bombs placed on two mentally handicapped women, and now, the U.S. military in Iraq has discovered an active campaign by al Qaeda to recruit female mental hospital patients for the same endeavor. Words cannot express my disgust.
The even more shocking aspect of all of this is the apparent assistance that is coming from these hospital staffs - that in fact, there appears to be al Qaeda operatives in the mental hospitals that are passing files and records on to al Qaeda. One of the two recent suicide bombers, well...she was a schizophrenic patients at a similar hospital in Baghdad. That is how the investigation started.
In all of this, the Iraqi government needs, in my view, to take a more aggressive approach to the support that al Qaeda in Iraq receives from any of the Iraqi people. If there is a nurse, or a doctor or any hospital worker that is found to have been working with al Qaeda in this sick recruitment, they should be executed. If an Iraqi is found to be passing information to al Qaeda regarding U.S. or IA troop movements, they should be executed. The time for hard ball is now. Al Qaeda has been pushed to the outer limits of Iraq and the only way they have succeeded in Baghdad and other areas has been through the assistance of Iraqi citizens. The word has to get out, that if you help al Qaeda, you die. If an Iraqi is threatened by al Qaeda but knows if they do their bidding they'll get vaporized, it could very well turn the tide.
Here's the full (and disgusting) story.
The even more shocking aspect of all of this is the apparent assistance that is coming from these hospital staffs - that in fact, there appears to be al Qaeda operatives in the mental hospitals that are passing files and records on to al Qaeda. One of the two recent suicide bombers, well...she was a schizophrenic patients at a similar hospital in Baghdad. That is how the investigation started.
In all of this, the Iraqi government needs, in my view, to take a more aggressive approach to the support that al Qaeda in Iraq receives from any of the Iraqi people. If there is a nurse, or a doctor or any hospital worker that is found to have been working with al Qaeda in this sick recruitment, they should be executed. If an Iraqi is found to be passing information to al Qaeda regarding U.S. or IA troop movements, they should be executed. The time for hard ball is now. Al Qaeda has been pushed to the outer limits of Iraq and the only way they have succeeded in Baghdad and other areas has been through the assistance of Iraqi citizens. The word has to get out, that if you help al Qaeda, you die. If an Iraqi is threatened by al Qaeda but knows if they do their bidding they'll get vaporized, it could very well turn the tide.
Here's the full (and disgusting) story.
U.S. military: Al Qaeda in Iraq seeks female patients as bombers
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Al Qaeda in Iraq is recruiting female patients at Baghdad's two psychiatric hospitals for suicide missions -- with the help of hospital staff -- according to the U.S. military.
The U.S. military believes al Qaeda in Iraq has operatives within the hospitals' staffs who are passing on patients' files and contact information to the militant group, a senior U.S. military official said, requesting anonymity.
The apparent recruiting effort came to light this month when Iraqi officials said that two female bombers in deadly pet market attacks in Baghdad that left nearly 100 dead were mentally challenged.
One of the female bombers had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression at Baghdad's Ibn Rushd psychiatric hospital, where she received electric shock treatments, the hospital's director said in an exclusive interview.
As part of the investigation into the February 1 attack, U.S. and Iraqi forces detained the acting director of Baghdad's main psychiatric facility, Rashad Hospital, on Sunday.
He faces questions about whether he provided patient files and contact information to al Qaeda in Iraq, a U.S. military spokesman, Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, said Wednesday.
The U.S. military is looking into whether there is a direct link between the two hospitals, which are treating an overabundance of Iraqis suffering from psychiatric disorders brought on by the war.
A U.S. military official said information from a source led them to Rashad Hospital's acting director. The U.S. military also said it believes that al Qaeda in Iraq is trying to use other women released from Rashad Hospital to carry out future suicide bombings.
The detained hospital chief took over the position after Rashad's director was fatally gunned down in December reportedly for refusing to cooperate with al Qaeda in Iraq.
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