Reverse Darwinism

The second bomber failed to detonate his explosive belt and was shot dead by a police officer, a police spokesman said.

As insurgencies progress, the insurgents -- and the counter-insurgents, often -- tend to get better and better tactically if for no other reason than natural selection. The bad insurgents -- guys who take unnecessary risks, commanders who think frontal assaults are a good idea, etc. -- tend to have been killed off early. Which is why Abu Muqawama can't wrap his head around suicide bombing. About a year ago, he attended a lecture by an Israeli psychologist who spoke of the "traits of the suicide bomber" based upon her numerous interviews with failed suicide bombers in Israeli prisons. At the end of the lecture, Abu Muqawama asked the obvious: "Um, based on your sample, don't your characteristics only apply to stupid suicide bombers? Wouldn't the successful suicide bombers, uh, not exactly be available for an interview?"

So taking today's news from Israel, where one suicide bomber killed an Israeli while another failed to detonate, can we say that the guy who failed to detonate his vest would be, had he lived, a bad insurgent or terrorist? And if you're in the S1 or HR Department of Islamic Jihad, doesn't that mean all your best people end up dead as part of the plan?

Of course, one of these days some sick bastard is going to get the idea to remotely detonate mentally retarded people. But that would be plumbing the depths of depravity, so we probably don't have to worry about that ever happening ... What's that? ... Really? Oh...