It takes more than a village...

... it takes a culture of death.
Updated
Last August I posted that children are the salvation of their parents.

Back then I mentioned a paradox of our times,

There's the acceptance in the Western World, in the name of multiculturalism and who knows what else, of societies that indulge into what for most of us is inherently revolting, aberrant degeneracy: the weaponization of children. Children suicide bombers, children witnessing public acts of unspeakable barbarity, children used as shields during gun battles, and the corpses of handicapped children (link in French) used as (warning: graphic images) death porn in a propaganda war.

Only a monster could conceivably do that; only people with a broken moral compass would support those like her.

Yesterday I was reading this post at Sigmund, Carl and Alfred. Among the things I found:

• The Palestinian Authority routinely indoctrinates children to ask for death
• The Hamas Website actively promotes suicide terror for children.

If you follow the links at SC&A's post you'll find dozens more.

Iranian blogger Kamangir (via Gateway Pundit) :

Fars has published pictures from "Hossain's toddlers conference [implicitly means toddlers who are ready to fight for Hossain till 'martyrdom']". Imam Hossain is the third Shia Imam, killed in Karbala, more than 1300 years ago these days. Since then, he has been the source of inspiration for Shias towards "martyrdom".

I asked a friend to translate what the headbands that the babies are wearing say - "Allah Akbar", the suicide bomber's cry.

(WARNING: Very disturbing photos) During the Ashoura,

Many children participate, and the tradition seems to be an important rite of passage for many Shia boys

This is institutionalized child abuse.

(Update [WARNING: more disturbing photos) Linda explains

The origins of Ashura: When the Omayyad Moslem army arrived at Karbala, Ali, the last blood relative of Mohammed found that his cowardly army had deserted him. He rode out with about 30 of his closest followers, and they were slaughtered. Muslims flaggelate and mutilate themselves on the each anniversary of his death to show remorse for deserting him before the battle.)

Now that the American women politicians are talking about the children, maybe it's time we start judging this behavior for what it is: depravity.

Update 2: A Mother's Pride (h/t Larwyn)
Update 3: AP reporter Sheherazade Faramarzi makes it sound like the 6-yr-olds are doing this out of their own volition: Some Shiite Children Are Into Bloody Rite

The 6-year-old boy screamed and shook his head to avoid the razor blade. But his father held him firmly as Hajj Khodor parted the boy's black hair and sliced his forehead three times with the blade.

Ali Madani's cries became more violent as blood gushed from the wound, covering his small, terrified face. His father and a few other men, waving daggers, broke into a religious chant, recalling how the 7th-century Shiite Muslim saint, Imam Hussein, was decapitated, his head placed on a lance.
...
``We're used to it,'' said Mahmoud Jaber, 43, who brought his five boys and two girls for the ritual. ``We've been doing this since we were kids. I started when I was 3. It doesn't hurt because the cry of pain goes away with the faith.''