Iraqi Shopkeeper and Policeman Save the Day

Recently, the Say Anything blog opined why Americans weren't fighting back to prevent calamity following the tragedy at Northern Illinois University. I agree that an armed society is a polite society, but I would certainly not criticize the victims of this horrible massacre for not reacting with cat-like reflexes to avert tragedy. These remarks as well as dropping memes like the following made the gentleman nominated for Operation Yellow Elephant:

Meanwhile, back here in the United States, the Democrat front-runner for the commander-in-chief job is still mired in defeatism describing our soldiers in the battlefield as “wondering when it will end".

Off topic, I don't exactly understand the logic of how wondering when a war will end is defeatist propaganda. But I digress.

Well, out here in Iraq, a vigilant policeman and shopkeeper prevented a female suicide bomber from wreaking mass havoc in the heavily-populated Baghdad district of Karrada with some quick thinking. NY Times has the story:

The 42-year-old electronics store owner peered outside and saw an Iraqi soldier draw a pistol on a young woman wearing a black robe. The woman raised her arms. “I have nothing on me,” she pleaded. But she did: Mr. Ali saw wires protruding from her clothing. The soldier, hands shaking, fired two bullets at the woman as she began to run toward the shops. Then another shop owner shot the woman again with a Kalashnikov assault rifle that he said he keeps in his store for protection. The young woman fell hard, Mr. Ali said, but “managed to press the detonation button with her last breath.”

The use of females as suicide bombers by terrorists in Iraq is a tactic employed to allow travel through checkpoints in the hopes of not being searched or scrutinized. Good on the policeman and shopkeeper for not falling for this ruse, or else Sunday in Baghdad could have been marred with an event like the pet market bombings two weeks ago. These guys deserve the respect for fighting terrorism, not angry bloggers (like myself).

The Key to Counter-Terrorism