Posted on 12/01/2005 10:16:02 AM PST by prairiebreeze
MONCEAU-SUR-SAMBRE, Belgium - Authorities have identified a woman who carried out a suicide attack against a U.S. patrol in Iraq as a 38-year-old Belgian who had two marriages to radical Muslim men.
Muriel Degauque, who grew up near the industrial city of Charleroi, entered Iraq from Syria last month and detonated explosives strapped to her body in a failed attack against U.S. troops.
Her mother, Liliane Degauque, told Belgian TV networks that her daughter was "so nice" — but began to change when she married an Algerian man and turned to Islamic fundamentalism.
The case underscored the growing reach of international terrorism.
"It is the first time that we see that a Western woman, a Belgian, marrying a radical Muslim, and is converted up to the point of becoming a jihad fighter," federal police director Glenn Audenaert said.
In her younger years, Degauque lived a conventional life in southern Belgium. Media reports said she finished high school before taking on several jobs, including selling bread in a bakery. They also said she had run into problems with drugs and alcohol as an adolescent.
After marrying her second husband — a Moroccan man — authorities said Degauque became a member of a terror cell that embraced al-Qaida's ideology.
"This is our Belgian kamikaze killed in Iraq," read the headline of Thursday's La Derniere Heure newspaper, over a picture of the smiling young woman.
When Liliane Degauque saw police coming to her doorstep Wednesday, she immediately knew what it was about. She had heard reports the evening before there had been a terrorist attack on Nov. 9 by a Belgian woman.
Muriel's second husband was believed to have died in Iraq at some point before her death.
"For three weeks already I tried to contact her by telephone but I got the answering machine," she told the RTBF network on Thursday.
Authorities Thursday formally charged five of 14 suspects detained with involvement in a terrorist network that sent volunteers like Degauque to Iraq. A 15th suspect was picked up in France.
Those placed under arrest in Belgium were a Tunisian and four Belgians, three of whom had North African roots. The other nine were released.
"This action shows how international terrorism tries to set up networks in western European nations, recruit for terror attacks in conflict areas and look for funds to finance terrorism," said Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.
Islamic radical groups linked to al-Qaida terror network are suspected of setting up networks in Belgium and other European nations with large Muslim communities. There are currently 13 Belgian and Moroccan nationals on trial for allegedly being members of an Islamic group suspected in recent bomb attacks in Spain and Morocco.
I know I for one am always shocked amd stunned when a muslim blows up things and kills people.
Religion of Peace ya know!
(gagging sarcasm)
Another article pointed out that her jihadi husband had been killed by U.S. forces. I seem to be hearing a lot of this these days. The Iraqi female suicide bomber in Jordan also had several jihadi relatives killed by U.S. forces. What this anecdotal evidence tells me is that we are killing a *lot* of these jihadis in Iraq, which most of us already suspected.
If I were going to translate it into a newspaper headline, I'd leave out the Here is and simply say over the photo, ala NYPOST, The Belgian Kamikaze Killed in Iraq, since it is just meant to identify her.
However, the use of the passive is strange indeed. It makes it sound completely innocent on her part, or as if she was simply one of many Belgian kamikazes, sort of like a Belgian suicide brigade, that everybody knew about and was actually rooting for. It almost made it sound as though Belgians would be grieved by her death. I assume was a reflection of the media's agenda or their desire to avoid offending Belgium's substantial Muslim population.
BTW, her husband actually was killed, but certainly was not innocent: our troops shot him when he was attempting to pull off another attack somewhere else. Good work!
She was 38? *sigh* Before you know it, they're all blown up and gone...
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