Nairobi- A Root Cause Analysis from Afar

It's not rocket science to figure out the root cause of the tragic Nairobi Kenya Westgate Mall massacre and hostage standoff.  There are three root causes: (a) Terrorism hasn't been declared to be an international war (only a handful of countries are seriously engaged in fighting against it); and (b) Terrorists get access to a seemingly inexhaustible supply of weapons (it's just a matter of time when these weapons become missiles and worse); and (c) Money - somebody is funding terrorists and their evil activities.

CNN reports: Gunfire echoed from the (Westgate, Nairobi) mall sporadically during the day, sending journalists and aid workers scrambling for cover. Thick heavy smoke -- from a fire set by terrorists, according to Kenyan authorities -- billowed into the air much of the afternoon.CNN reports

Trying to stop international terrorism shouldn't be complicated, but it does require international cooperation. The solution is actually something like taking a Student Achievement Test (SAT). The problem reads something like this:

If a group of evil people are looking to reign terror on innocent civilians, they must first do which of the following:

1.  find money

2.  find a method to deliver the terror to the civilian group

3.  find a group of unsuspecting civilians to surprise with terrorism

4.  find a way to access a civilian site to perpetrate terrorism

5.  find all of the above

6.  find none of the above

7.  find (1) and (3)

Obviously, the only wrong answer is # 6.

In a logical root cause analysis, the road to a solution to the growing international terrorism problem is to do the following:  

1.  cut off terrorist money at the source

2.  cut the access of military arms from finding their way into the hands of civilian vigilante and cultist groups

Answers 1 and 2 to the root cause analysis are synergistic, because  money fuels terrorism like gasoline feeds fires.

Terrorism thrives on money.  

So, who's supplying the money to fund terrorism? Apparently, whatever the source, terrorism money isn't constrained by operating under the confines of a "stupid sequester", like the US has self imposed for no rational reason. Nevertheless, the terrorist money source has, seemingly, unlimited access to funds.

It's too easy an academic solution to impose on terrorist prone countries, like Kenya, to suggest we simply cut off money to eliminate access to weapons and, thereby, eliminate the violence of terrorist groups. Certainly, a multiple choice solution isn't feasible, unless the world declares war on international terror, by cutting violent groups from access to money to buy weapons. 

Therefore, the solution to eliminating the evil and growing plight of terrorism throughout the world is to have the nations of the earth unify, to declare War on International Terrorism. After all, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how terrorism seems to be among the great human equalizers of modern times. Add the risk of death by terrorism to birth, death, and sex. 

In other words, all human beings will benefit equally from winning a War on International Terrorism.

Nairobi, Kenya now joins Mumbi, India and the World Trade Center in New York City, along with other sites, where terrorism explodes like water splattering from a pot of hot grease.  

A root cause analysis of these heinous string of terrorist attacks should point to one solution, ie, an internationally unified World War on Terror, and win it, the same way Allies joined forces to win World War II. There's no other way to end the growing blight of terrorism than to confront it as a global war that humanity must win, to protect us from annihilation.We must win before terrorist groups eventually find the funds to buy unmentionable human destroying weapons.

But, who has the money to win a declared war on terrorism? Frankly, nobody.  Therefore, it's essential for nations of the world to find out who's funding terrorism and, in a root cause analysis, turn those funds off.

So, the correct answer to the hypothetical SAT question is #1.