The Taliban"s usage of child suicide bombers in this video cannot be excused by any moral relativism

http://youtu.be... As the fighting intensifies between Al-Qaeda and American insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, so too do the desires to end it at any cost. Fueled by their zealous beliefs, Al-Qaeda has enticed the youth of Afghanistan into joining their terrorist activities, specifically their suicide bombings. They either outright lie to their younger proteges, leading them to believe they would survive a bomb detonating beneath their vest (as seen at 13:05 in the video), or they convince the teenagers that to kill oneself in this manner is acceptable and would still enable them to enter Paradise. However, can we, as Americans, truly understand our opponent's final goal? As a secular nation, even with our Christian undertones, we do not know how it feels to have one's entire life revolve around one's religion. We chose to keep the church and the state separate, so how could we ever understand a nation who has based not only their lifestyle but their entire government on Sharia Law? How would we feel if an entire nation invaded our home and tried to upset a culture and government that had been standing for hundreds of years? Wouldn't we feel obligated to protect ourselves by any means necessary? Wouldn't we feel threatened? For the sake of this debate, I am willing to say that the Taliban's usage of child bomber's can be excused by moral relativism. They are not the first to employ these underhanded means of warfare. Throughout history, we have had child soldiers conscripted into our armies. Those child soldiers were the sons of farmers and other working classes, drafted into the service to protect their homeland. Even today, through more subtle means such as advertising campaigns, immature young men are lured into joining the military. As quoted from an article by In These Times: "While the age of legal and cultural adulthood can vary, science is now able to determine the physiological markers of maturity. A recent study headed by Jay Giedd of the National Institutes of Health using MRI scans shows that the brain of an 18-year-old is not fully developed, with the limbic cortex-brain structures, the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex still undergoing substantial changes. ... A mature prefrontal cortex, 'the area of sober second thought,' is vital not only to deciding whether to enlist, but also to choices made under the stress of deployment and the terrors of combat. But the prefrontal cortex, 'important for controlling impulses, is among the last brain regions to mature," according to Giedd, and doesn"t reach "adult dimensions until the early 20s.' Teenagers" brains simply lack the impulse control that can prevent a lifetime of regret, psychological and physical disability, and preventable deaths"their own, their fellow soldiers" and those of civilians. ... In 2002, almost half of Marine recruits were 17 or 18. A Pentagon survey found that "for both males and females, propensity [to enlist] is highest among 16- and 17-year-olds." That 'propensity' quickly declines with age. A 2004 Pentagon database listed the number of 16- and 17-year-olds who applied for active service enlistment at 69,000 and 18-year-olds at 73,000. By 19, the count had dropped to 49,000 and by age 24 had plummeted to 9,700." ( http://inthesetimes.com... ) They aim even lower than the teenage years with the JROTC; dazzling children with uniforms, medals, and real guns. We may not be strapping bombs to our soldiers, but we certainly are setting them on a path of self-destruction if we push them to commit to a lifelong vocation that they may not entirely understand.