It wasn't the first time it was reported that people were Down Syndrome were used as suicide bombers:

AP 1:53 p.m. MT, Mon., Jan. 31, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's interior minister said Monday that insurgents used a handicapped child as one of the suicide bombers who launched attacks on election day.

Falah al-Naqib told reporters in Baghdad that 38 attacks were carried out on polling stations in Iraq on Sunday and that one of the suicide bombings was carried out by a disabled child.

"A handicapped child was used to carry out a suicide attack on a polling site," al-Naqib said. "This is an indication of what horrific actions they are carrying out."

He gave no other details about the attack, but police at the scene of one the Baghdad blasts said the bomber appeared to have Down Syndrome.

When there are child soldiers, when there are children (under 18) used as suicide bombers (see concern by Human Rights Watch, 2001), when bombs are hidden in baby's prams -- why are we shocked and appalled NOW by this story??

History is replete with examples: Vietnam, for instance, or the Hitler Youth at the end of WW2.