'Mother of Believers' gives account of recruiting bombers
4:00AM Thursday February 05, 2009
BAGHDAD - A woman accused of helping recruit dozens of female suicide bombers looked into the camera and described the process: trolling society for likely candidates and then converting the women from troubled souls into deadly attackers.
The accounts, in a video released yesterday by Iraq police, offer a rare glimpse into the networks used to find and train the women bombers who have become one of the insurgents' most effective weapons.
In the separate prison interview the woman said she helped plan the rapes
woman said she helped plan the rapes of young women and then stepped in to persuade the victims to become suicide bombers as their escape from the shame.
The United States and Iraqi militaries have made past claims about efforts by insurgents to recruit vulnerable women and children as attackers while providing little evidence.
It also was not possible to independently verify the claims of using rape as a tool to recruit women bombers in the volatile Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.
But the suspect, 50-year-old Samira Ahmed Jassim - who said her codename was "The Mother of Believers" - has given unusual firsthand descriptions of the possible workings behind last year's spike in attacks by women bombers.
Iraqi military spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said the suspect had recruited more than 80 women and had admitted masterminding 28 bombings.
Female suicide bombers attempted or successfully carried out 32 attacks last year, compared with eight in 2007, according to US military figures.
The attacks reflected a shift in insurgent tactics: trying to exploit cultural standards that restrict male security forces from searching women.
In response, Iraqi security forces have tried to recruit more women.
http://msn.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=340&objectid=10555232 woman said she helped plan the rapes of young women and then stepped in to persuade the victims to become suicide bombers as their escape from the shame.F#cken Bad Bitch....
