ISIS is like invasive cancer cells - a systematic world response is required

Just at the time when President Obama and CNN writer Peter Bergen were trying to spread some solace about how ISIS was being "contained", the November 13th attack on innocent Parisians blew the concept of success into smithereens.  This morning, the Paris death toll is reported at 127 innocent civilians and at least 8 terrorists are dead.  Obviously, the reports of successes against ISIS were wrong.  In fact, nothing is working to prevent evil ISIS from spreading terrorism like malignant cancer cells, outside of the Middle East with the potential to infect anyplance in the world.

The civilized world must unite behind France and protect civilization as we know it

Young evil men who reportedly had granades and AKA 47 assault rifles, while wearing suicide vests, created an agonizing series of terror attacks during coordinated attacks. From reports at the secnes, they knew what they were doing during their assault.

It's impossible to understand how this widespread attack was coordinated against Parisian innocents without the terrorists betraying their barbaric intentions. Certainly, there had been several ominous warnings when several past incidents were apparently thwarted; so it seems obvious that Parisian security authorities were on alert for security threats. Yet, recent news of some triumphs in Syria against ISIS seemed to create the illusion of the group somehow being on the ropes. Tragically, the intention of ISIS is to create high profile carnage and being in Syria wasn't getting them much attention. Now, the cancer this diabolic group is causing is spreading beyond Syria. There's a potential for "metastatic" terrorism and "copy cat" combat training attacks, to erupt anyplace in the world. 

What are Americans to do now?  Our international friend and allies in France have been assaulted.  We must respond for two important reasons: (a) ISIS must be stopped because the world has no alternative but to destroy this movement and (b) like any infectious disease, the spread of ISIS will eventaully cause mahem throughout the civilized world. 

As Senator Diane Feinstein said on several news reports, "we're either going to fight them there or fight them here".

Leadership against ISIS can no longer be political. Destroying ISIS can't be accomplished like the line up of Republican presidential candidates suggest, by creating hot air rhetoric, but without a plan. 

Destroying ISIS will involve a coordinated world wide strategy with inspired leadership.  

Paris has experienced an assault on its people and its culture. As citizens of the civilized world, it is essential for Americans to lead and unite behind a strategy to eliminate ISIS and all terrorism from the world.  Otherwise, the ISIS cancer will continue to spread and tragically consume civilization as we know it.

Meanwhile, Bergen on CNN reported:

(CNN)In a speech in 1942, Winston Churchill said that a recent British victory against the Nazis in North Africa was "not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Might the coalition arrayed against ISIS also be at the end of the beginning of the campaign that eventually will destroy the organization?

Over the past 24 hours the coalition has scored two important tactical victories. The first is the reports of the assassination of "Jihadi John" the notorious British terrorist, who starred in many of ISIS' beheading videos. U.S. officials now say they are "reasonably certain" that he was killed in a drone strike. An investigation by the Washington Post found that he was Mohammed Emwazi, Kuwait-born and London-raised.

The second tactical victory against ISIS had a greater impact. It was the seizure of the town of Sinjar in Iraq by Kurdish forces. Sinjar sits along the road that connects Raqqa with ISIS' de facto capital in Iraq, the city of Mosul. The seizure of Sinjar helped to put pressure on ISIS in both Mosul and Raqqa, as ISIS forces in these cities can no longer easily reinforce each other.

Yet, while these two successes were newsworthy, another cell within the ISIS group  had gone "dark", aka "underground" to create the November 13th Paris assault.  

Like cancer, ISIS has learned to develop the ability to hide within plain site so the overriding immune system cannot recognize it while doing its systematic damage.  

Drone strikes are more effective than carpet bombing in a war!

War is horribly terrible. Why do human engage in it?
Death is the outcome for millions of people caught in the horror of wars. As Americans are defending against the expansion of world terrorism by Islamic extremists, the use of drone warfare is now, tragically, routine. Obviously, innocent people die as a result of any war. Terrorists know this, so they deliberately put innocents in harms way as a futile response to protect against drone attacks. Well, Americans simply can't take the chance of protecting hostages when an opportunity to use drones will exterminate Islamic extremist leaders. Collateral damage is the worst tragedy of horrible war......but, sadly, we can't stop now. We are at war.

I'm old enough to remember what happened every time President Lyndon Johnson stopped bombing North Vietnam, because there was the outcry about killing innocent civilians. What happened in Vietnam?  Americans lost thousands of military lives, the lull in bombing didn't save any lives and millions of people suffered when South Vietnam fell on April 30, 1975.

Washington Post journalists Craig Whitlock, Missy Ryan, Greg Miller report how a CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) drone strike in January, that was aimed at a suspected gathering of al-Qaeda figures in Pakistan, accidentally killed two hostages, including a kidnapped American, U.S. officials acknowledged.

Obviously, innocent lives lost are tragic. Unfortunately, the American military involvement in the Middle East requires a ruthless offensive, even when innocent people die.  

Drones are more effective than carpet bombing.  

The best way to avoid innocents being accidentally killed by drones is to end the wars on terrorism. I can't understand why Islamic extremists like evil ISIS are obsessed with destroying humanity, but the deaths of innocent hostages are the result of terrorism. Americans can't be responsible for innocent people killed by drones when the evil extremists and Islamic terrorists are the cause of the aggression.

Tragic Germanwings air disaster families suffer the preventable losses

Although Europeans were spared the horror of finding the Germanwings flight diaster was not the result of terrorism or an airplane malfunction, the mass murder-suicide by co-pilot Andreas Lutitz was, nevertheless a wake up call about the future potential for such an event.

Exacerbating the devastating Germanwings disaster in the French alps, are the enormities  of the sufferings experienced by the victims' families. Survivors of the 149 victims of the Lubitz suicide how realize how the airline tragedy was preventable. It turned out, Lubitz was unfit to fly. Nevertheless, he was obviously too delusional to accept his fate. Instead of facing the reality of the depressive disorder he suffered from, Lubitz decided to avenge his fate and take innocent lives along with him, as he took the Germanwings airplane into a delusional plunge into the alps.

Of course, Europeans and people around the world held our collective breaths about the Germanwings disaster, thinking it had the look and feel of a terrorism plot.  Realistically, why else would a sane pilot take an airplane into a deliberate decline, heading into a mountain, on a clear night during an otherwise uneventful flight? Well, of course, Lubitz was not sane. Rather, he was experiencing a psychotic episode most likely accompanied by delusions. We'll never know for sure what Lubitz was thinking, but I'm confident he had a history of paranoid delusional behavior.  Left untreated, the victims of this mental disease are difficult to treat because they refuse to believe anything is wrong. They deny treatment and eventually wind up doing some kind of a delusional deed. Tragically, Lubitz wasn't caught in time to save the lives of those who were killed in his delusional psychosis.

There's no solace for families and friends of the Germanwings victims in knowing their loved ones were killed by one psychotic airline pilot. It's hard to accept the fact that the deaths were preventable.

Yet, the Germanwings disaster brought grieving European leaders together in realizing how the crash may, indeed, have dodged a terrorism bullet. Hopefully, it was a major wake up call for the Europeans, alerting them to be hyper aware about the risk of terrorists who, very likely, would be in a mind set to "copy cat" the Lubitz delusional plan.  

Those suffering Germanwings disaster surviving family members, colleagues and friends will never overcome the emotional trauma caused by one delusional airline pilot. Yet, those killed may have raised European awareness to prevent the potential for something worse, in the future.

Germanwings is another mysterious air accident without apparant cause or distress signal

Regardless if the Germanwings air disaster was caused by human error, aircraft anomaly or criminal intent, the Europeans have every reason to be alarmed.

It's difficult to believe the Germanwings aircraft disaster in the French Alps was the result of pilot error or an engine anamoly. In the unlikely event the airplane's pilot experienced an in flight emergency, it's likely a distress call would have been sent. It seems more likely that something overtook the airplane in mid air, causing it to crash into the Alps, killing everyone of the 150 passengers, including many children.

If criminal intervention is proven in the Germanwings air disaster, the incident will be the equivalent of the 1915 sinking of the RMS Lusitania, the world's largest passenger ship at the time she was attacked by a German U Boat, causing the deaths of 1,198 passengers and crew.

Obviously, the evidence to either prove or disprove any criminal intent in the Germanwings crash will have to be convincing. There's an incendiary environment in Europe right now, following the terrorist attacks in Paris on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, with subsequent killings at a Jewish Kosher grocery market and the murder of a policewoman. Therefore, the prospect of retaliation against the "Je suis Charlie" spontaneous European response to the attacks seems likely to be launched by terrorists.

A cause for the Germanwings air crash must be quickly forthcoming. If criminal intent is proven, then Europe must take more of a role in responding to terrorism than just organizing a massive street march, like Je Suis Charlie. Nevertheless, whether the airliner crash was caused by criminal intent, structural weakness, human error or mechanical failure, the startling loss of another airplane is a startling reminder, yet again, about how vulnerable innocent people are the victims of terrorism. Somehow, the terrorism spiral threat must end, but there appears to be no viable path to a solution.

General Wesley Clark "Don't Wait for the Next War"

Al Jazeera America interview with General Wesley Clark explains how boots on the ground to fight evil ISIS must be negotiated from among threatened Middle East nations. He told Al Jazeera that ISIS wants to "sucker in" US military troops. America must not put boots on the ground in the Middle East because ISIS will use this potential escalation as a rallying call for even more ferocious jihad.


General Wesley Clark tells Americans that public opinion shouldn't dictate foreign policy. The former NATO Supreme Allied Commander says the executive branch has to lead public opinion rather than react to it.

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Wait-Next-War-Leadership-ebook/dp/B00JZBABKO

With the end of the Cold War came the end of America’s sense of its strategic purpose in the world. 

Then, after a decade of drift, the US was violently dragged back into international conflict. Its armed forces responded magnificently but its leaders’ objectives were substantially flawed. We fought the wrong war (in Iraq)—twice—for reasons that were opaque, and few American citizens understood the cause for which their sons and daughters were fighting and dying. (There were no Weapons of Mass Destructions in Iraq.)

War is a poor substitute for strategic vision, and decisions made in the heat of imminent conflict are often limited by the emotions of the moment. In Don’t Wait for the Next War, Wesley K. Clark, a retired four-star general of the US army and former Democratic candidate for president, presents a compelling argument for continued American global leadership and the basis on which it can succeed—a new American strategy. America needs both new power and deeper perspective. The platform for American leadership is to use America’s energy resources to spark sustainable economic growth, building new strength to deal with pressing domestic issues like the deficit as well as the longer term challenges to US security—terrorism, cyber threats, the next financial crisis, China’s rising power, and climate change.

Such a strategy is not only achievable but essential, and it is urgently needed. This is the true test of American leadership for the next two decades, but it must start now, so America has the power and vision to deal with the acute crises that will inevitably come—in the Mideast, Europe, or Asia.

General Clark certainly provides clarity about the complex Middle East dangers.  He also challenges President Obama to communicate with the American people about the daunting challenges of destroying terrorism. Americans need to hear from President Obama about how he is negotiating with allies to launch an international war to defeat Al Qaeda and its subsidiaries.

Electrical power in third world developing countries

Mother Jones magazine reports on how a Tanzanian is using solar power to generate enough electricity to power a small television for the purpose of watching the news.

(It occurs to me, the nations of the world where electricity is a luxury are often where support for terrorism grows. Meanwhile, ordinary people create social networks and cottage industries to access communication technologies.)

When my family lived in the Philippines for three years, during the 1970's, we appreciated the support of a domestic woman "maid" named Norma.  

Norma worked hard. She was dedicated to a goal of having her only son qualify for enlisting in the US Navy. Prior to qualifying, her son had to pass a written exam, but he needed an electric light to allow him to study, especially into the evening hours. Norma had to pay bribes to municipal officials to receive a permit to have one electric line extended from the grid into her modest house. Then, she had to pay for someone to install one electric bulb with a switch. After the installation, she paid expensive electric bills. Nevertheless, Norma was determined to see her son qualify for enlistment in the US Navy, so she worked tirelessly to earn money to pay for one electric light bulb.

Unfortunately, little has changed regarding the allocation of electricity in third world countries, like the Philippines.  

Nevertheless, entrepreneurial efforts have created opportunities for developing nations to participate in using modern technologies.

When my husband and I visited Cambodia a few years ago, we commented on how many people used cell phones. In fact, it seemed like every person had use of a cell phone. How did these telephone batteries access electric charges in a nation where most people didn't have electricity? It so happened, people could afford cell phones because the Cambodian government offered subsidies to promote the service. Those who owned a cell phone participated in gas powered generator co-ops, to provide the electricity needed to charge the phones. Each user paid a charging fee, thereby spreading the cost of the generator across the number of people who accessed the electrical service to charge their cell phones.

Mother Jones: There's a Place in the World That Is Fighting Poverty with Solar Power. Solar power is taking off in villages where connecting to the grid is seen as a bad joke. (I remember how much graft Norma paid to access one line off the grid.)

Lusela Murandika just wants to be able to watch the evening news.

The 76-year-old farmer lives in Kanyala village in northern Tanzania, 60 miles from the nearest town that's connected to the electric grid. For years, he's powered a tiny TV set in the dim sitting room of his concrete house here with a diesel generator, spending roughly $10 each month on fuel—money that could otherwise buy more than 20 pounds of rice in a country where the per capita GDP is $695.

Earlier this year, on the advice of friends, he invested $400 in a small, 80-watt solar system. After charging all day under the East African sun, it can run his TV for two hours. The system was a pain in the neck to install, he says, and the battery is unreliable, but it's still an improvement over the generator. And here, as in most of rural Africa, there aren't many options.

"It's a joke to think we'll all be connected to the grid," he says with a rueful grin.

Nineteen percent of the global population lives without access to electricity, according to the International Energy Agency. In Africa, that number is 58 percent. The vast majority of those without power are in rural areas. In Tanzania specifically, 86 percent of the population has no electricity, a fact that was illustrated when the lights cut out at President Obama's hotel in Dar es Salaam during a visit he made there last year to dedicate $7 billion for energy access improvements across the continent.

Tanzanians still get 76 percent of their energy—mostly for heating and cooking—from charcoal, wood, and other biomass. So there's more at stake than turning on the lights: Indoor air pollutionkills more than 4 million people every year, more than AIDS and malariacombined. Increasing access to clean energy is literally a matter of life or death.

In Tanzania, the population is predominantly rural and scattered in small villages across vast reaches of terrain, while the state-owned utility is chronically cash-strapped and urban-focused. So Murandika's pessimism about the grid is almost certainly justified. But, just as the mobile phone revolution in Africa dramatically reduced the need for telephone landlines, solar power is now leapfrogging the electric grid. Like Murandika, thousands of rural Africans are turning to solar as the solution, in a clean-energy boom that development experts say could become a catalyst for widespread economic empowerment.

These aren't the oceanic fields of solar panels some German entrepreneurs have proposed to build in the Sahara, nor the grid-connected rooftop systems that power entire American homes. Instead, these are small kits that come complete with the necessary panels, wiring, power converters, and batteries to power a few lightbulbs, a small appliance, or a cellphone charger.

The ingenuity of developing nations' populations to create access to electricity is impressive. Yet, it remains to be seen whether or not these ambitions will mobilize them to oppose pervasive government corruption and destructive terrorism networks.

Building a coalition against ISIS might develop a Middle East defense alliance without Russia

President Obama rallies our nation against evil ISIS (or ISIL) with a coalition that should extend beyond integration and destruction of the non-Islamic and non-state barbaric group.

"Abroad, American leadership is the one constant in an uncertain world. It is America that has the capacity and the will to mobilize the world against terrorists." President Obama, September 10, 2014 speech to the nation.

Noticeably absent in the coalition that's building with US leadership against ISIS is any mention of Russia as an ally among the nations coalescing against the barbaric intentions of ISIS.

It's entirely possible the outcome of the eventual decimation of ISIS could be a Middle East defense alliance. Maintaining a strong anti-terrorism Middle East alliance is as important today as the North Atlantic, or NATO, alliance was, post World War II.

Putin's leadership of Russia has isolated the nation from both the NATO and any potential Middle East defense alliance. 

Russia's omission from both alliances is an unmistakable message. If this Middle East defense alliance holds beyond the denigration and destruction of ISIS/ISIL, the result will be a marginalization of Russia as a world power and a complete rebuke of the ruble as the Russian currency.

As a result, President Obama creates an unlikely legacy. He was elected president to end war, but his administration has been faced with continuous war.

Although the US has experienced difficult political acrimony during Obama's presidency, his eight years of leadership will be remembered for building a strong Middle East defense alliance and for preventing Cold War II by isolating Russia from the world's power nations.

God willing.  President Barack Obama's speech posted here:

Across the border, in Syria, we have ramped up our military assistance to the Syrian opposition. Tonight, I again call on Congress to give us additionalauthorities and resources to train and equip these fighters. In the fight against ISIL, we cannot rely on an Assad regime that terrorizes its people; a regime that will never regain the legitimacy it has lost. 

Instead, we must strengthen the opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like ISIL, while pursuing the political solution necessary to solve Syria’s crisis once and for all.

Third, we will continue to draw on our substantial counter terrorism capabilities top revent ISIL attacks.Working with our partners, we will redouble our efforts to cut off its funding; improve our intelligence; strengthen our defenses; counter its warped ideology; and stem the flow of foreign fighters into and out of the Middle East. And in two weeks, I will chair a meeting of the UN Security Council to further mobilize the international community around this effort.

Fourth, we will continue providing humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians who have been displaced by this terrorist organization. This includes Sunni and Shia Muslims who are at grave risk, as well as tens of thousands of Christians and other religious minorities. We cannot allow these communities to be driven from their ancient homelands.This is our strategy. And in each of these four parts of our strategy, America will be joined by a broad coalition of partners. Already, allies are flying planes with us over Iraq; sending arms and assistance to Iraqi Security Forces and the Syrian opposition; sharing intelligence; and providing billions of dollars in humanitarian aid. Secretary Kerry was in Iraq today meeting with the new government and supporting their efforts to promote unity, and in the coming days he will travel across the Middle East and Europe to enlist more partners in this fight, especially Arab nations who can help mobilize Sunni communities in Iraq and Syria to drive these terrorists from their lands. This is American leadership at its best: we stand with people who fight for their own freedom; and we rally other nations on behalf of our common security and common humanity.

My Administration has also secured bipartisan support for this approach here at home. I have the authority to address the threat from ISIL. But I believe we are strongest as a nation when the President and Congress work together. So I welcome congressional support for this effort in order to show the world that Americans are united in confronting this danger. Now, it will take time to eradicate a cancer like ISIL. 

And any time we take military action, there are risks involved especially to the servicemen and women who carry out these missions. But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This counter-terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground.

This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years.

And it is consistent with the approach I outlined
earlier this year: to use force against anyone who threatens America’s core interests, but to mobilize partners wherever possible to address broader challenges to international order.My fellow Americans, we live in a time of great change. Tomorrow marks 13 years since our country was attacked. Next week marks 6 years since oureconomy suffered its worst setback since the Great Depression. Yet despite these shocks; through the pain we have felt and the grueling work required to bounce back America is better positioned today to seize the future than any other nation on Earth. Our technology companies and universities are unmatched; our manufacturing and auto industries are thriving. 

Energy independence is closer than it’s been in
decades. For all the work that remains, our businesses are in the longest uninterrupted stretch of job creation in our history. 

Despite all the divisions and discord within our democracy, I see the grit and determination and common goodness of the American people every single day and that makes me more
confident than ever about our country’s future.

Abroad, American leadership is the one constant in an uncertain world. It is America that has the capacity and the will to mobilize the world against terrorists. It is America that has rallied the world against Russian aggression, and in support of the Ukrainian peoples’ right to determine their own destiny. It is America
our scientists, our doctors, our know-how that can help contain and
cure the outbreak of Ebola.

It is America that helped remove and destroy Syria’s
declared chemical weapons so they cannot pose a threat to the Syrian people or the world again. And it is America that is helping Muslim communities around the world not just in the fight against terrorism, but in the fight for opportunity, tolerance, and a more hopeful future. America, our endless blessings bestow an enduring burden. 

But as Americans,we welcome our responsibility to lead. 

From Europe to Asia from the far reaches of Africa to war-torn capitals of the Middle East we stand for freedom, for justice, for dignity. These are values that have guided our nation since its founding. Tonight, I ask for your support in carrying that leadership forward. I do so as a Commander-in-Chief who could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform pilots who bravely fly in the face of danger above the Middle East, and service-members who support our partners on the ground.

When we helped prevent the massacre of civilians trapped on a distant mountain, here’s what one of them said. “We owe our American friends our lives. Our children will always remember that there was someone who felt our struggle and made a long journey to protect innocent people.”

That is the difference we make in the world. And our own safety
our own security depends upon our willingness to do what it takes to defend this nation,and uphold the values that we stand for
timeless ideals that will endure long after those who offer only hate and destruction have been vanquished from the Earth. 

May God bless our troops, and may God bless the United States of America.

Russians living high life in South East Asia will see Rubles used for Mahjong chips

1 Russian Ruble equals 0.028 US Dollar

In other words, an American quarter is roughly the equivalent of a Russian currency ruble. 

Looking at it another way, Russian rubles might make interesting Mahjong wager chips.

Russian rubles will likely be reduced to the creating arts and crafts projects when reparations are demanded for the destruction of a Malaysian airliner, taken from the sky today, by a Russian heat seeking missile.

Was it a mistake, deliberate, terrorism or something unforeseen? Whatever the motivation, the cause will support the assessment of the cost of what Russia will have to pay to the Malaysian airlines and to the 265 victims of this airline attack disaster. Indeed, the cost will be extraordinarily high.

Russian President Putin continues to lie about his nation's persistent involvement to stir up trouble in the eastern Ukraine. He lies about this involvement because Russia can't withstand much more in the way of international economic pressure to leave the Ukraine. Therefore, Putin pretends his nation is an innocent victim of the US led international sanctions.  

Meanwhile, the Russian ruble is the value of a US "two bit" quarter, while the billion dollar bill to pay for the exorbitant Putin Olympic games in Sochi will probably never be paid.

When my husband and I visited Southeast Asia a few years ago, we were surrounded by Russians who were doing business, touring and acting like their Oligarch's rubles would last forever.  

Well, even if the Russians swarming Southeast Asia have rubles hiding in the foundation of their beach homes, their reputation among the local people (which was never very good because, frankly, they're "cheap"), will now tank. 

Russia clearly made a horrible humanitarian, and financial mistake by somehow releasing a surface to air heat seeking missile, to attack and destroy an innocent Malaysian airliner, with civilian passengers on board.  Russia will pay for this mistake. Moreover, Putin will undoubtedly be forced to face the court of international opinion, or worse, as a result. Russia may not recover from this attack.  

Worse, terrorist factions within Russia might now have an opportunity to escape their barbed wire encampments and retaliate for the oppression they've experienced as a result of Putin's pogrom of extremists . 

These are dark days for Russians as well as for the governments around the world that must respond to the attack on the innocent Malaysian airliner. 

Regardless of the intention, motivation, mistake or whatever else, the Russians will pay a huge price for this disaster.

Is Iran behind the tragic disappearance of Malaysian flight MH370?

We know Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 is mysteriously gone, disappeared from the sky at 35,000 feet. The best evidence we have about what happened, right now, is to look at what has happened in the past. 

BEIJING — For three days, relatives awaiting word on the vanished Malaysia Airlines jet endured a cruel roller coaster of emotions.  First came the shock. Then, with each development that has emerged, they have careened between hope and despair. But by Monday, the predominant emotion was anger.

So let's look to the Lockerbie, Pan Am Flight 103 airline disaster. 

After exhaustive detail investigation, it's clear this tragedy was supported by Iran.

I believe the best predictor of the future is to examine the past. Although it's never a 100 percent predictor, the past is, nonetheless, an excellent predictor of the future.

Therefore, if Iran was proven responsible for the Lockerbie airline disaster, then it's a better than 50/50 probability the Middle East nation is also responsible for the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370.  It's already been established that the person who purchased two tickets for passengers on the doomed Malaysian airplane was an Iranian.  

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Chinese aviation authorities arrived here Monday to assist in an investigation of a missing jetliner that it has complained is going slow as investigators zeroed in on two mystery passengers traveling aboard the Malaysia Airlines flight.

Authorities questioned travel agents Monday at a beach resort in Thailand about two men who boarded the doomed plane with stolen passports and one-way tickets bound for Europe.

Electronic booking records show the tickets were issued Thursday from a travel agency in the beach resort of Pattaya in eastern Thailand at the request of a second travel agency in Pattaya, Grand Horizon, Thai police Col. Supachai Phuykaeokam said.

The Financial Times, citing Thai police, said the ticket purchase was made over the phone by an Iranian man named Kazem Ali, who used the stolen passports he said were those of two friends who wanted to return home to Europe. The tickets were paid for in cash, the Times said.

Global Horizon's owner, Benjaporn Krutnait, said she believed Ali was not connected to terrorism because he had asked for the cheapest tickets to Europe and did not specify the Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight.

Malaysia's police chief told news media in Kuala Lumpur that one of the two men had been identified. Civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said video of the men believed to be traveling with the stolen passports showed that they were of "non-Asian" appearance.

So, let's assume the criminal perpetrators of the crash of the Lockerbie flight are also responsible for the disappearance of Malaysian Flight MH370.

As evidence of an Iranian connection to the Malaysian flight disappearance unfolds, the question is, what does the world do about an evident trail of terrorism?

If clear and convincing evidence connects Iran with the Malaysian flight disappearance, then it follows that there's a preponderance of rationale to take retaliatory action as soon as possible.

Nevertheless, regardless of Iran's complicity in past horrific airline terrorism, the underlying question is "why?". Why murder innocent people on a Malaysian airliner? Was this a test to determine future operations?  Of course, I'm now making a leap to claim it really was terrorists who were responsible for the Malaysian airline disaster. Therefore, yes, I'll say it....it was terrorism of unknown etiology.

It's the world's responsibility to find the cause of the disappearance of Malaysian flight MH370, because we must understand how and why international terrorists continue to murder totally innocent people.

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.

Drones on Terror - 21st Century Warfare

President Obama gave a speech today explaining why Drone attacks are important to protect US national security.

I agree with everything President Obama said in defense of targeted Drone attacks, presented in today's speech.  American Drones are strategically attacking our terrorist enemies, those who are involved in Al Qaeda and spin off networks. We must protect our nation against these groups, attack them in their hiding places, because, given any opportunity, these radical networks will kill us.  

The Caucus blog asks:

Now that President Obama's speech is over, one of the outstanding questions is just how transparent the Obama administration will be about drone strikes in the future. Will administration officials begin to publicly confirm strikes after they happen? 

Of course. Americans must know about the frequencies and reasons for specific Drone attacks.  Transparency is essential to protect against abuse of this clandestine war technology.  Stealth Drone attacks are highly technical, but they don't happen without human control.  Americans need to know why Drone attacks are necessary so the human command and control over the "joysticks" don't somehow become overly powerful, leading to unnecessary use.

There was no mention of in the President's speech (and it's telling)  about the C.I.A., at all.  Therefore, this seemingly deliberate omission indicates that Drone operations in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere won't be declassified anytime soon.

Nevertheless, C.I.A. notwithstanding, the Drones are essential if America and our allies ever hope to win the international war against terrorist groups.  We can't let our guard down, because terrorists count on war fatigue to gain advantage over us.  They patiently wait their turn to kill, attacking when and where we least expect to find them.  Incredulous as it sounds, we must kill them first.  Of course, the flip side of using strategic Drone strikes can lead to the rise of zealots who, like the angry Boston terrorist Tsarnaev brothers', want to attack where they believe the U.S. will be weakened, like in New York City and Boston.  

Although the war on terror seems driven by religious fervor among some radical Muslim fringe groups, we must never allow bigotry to stereotype this enemy.  Americans must remember the name of the executed Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVey, who was a Christian. 

International terrorism won't be won with "boots on the ground". 20th century war strategies are already antiquated, like equipping infantry soldiers with horses.  War will never, in our lifetimes, be managed using rules of engagement. Terrorists are experts in gorilla tactics.  Consequently, Drones are essential to strategically target the "cells" that control terrorism and its deadly activities.

Unfortunately, the war on terror is a new international state of being.  I can't see a time when we'll be assured of peace.  If I'm (sadly) correct, this means Drones are essential to protect American lives, whether they're military fighters or civilians living at home. 

If it's even possible to win the fight against terrorism, the means to that end requires battles waged under the cover of darkness, with strategic Drone strikes, using night goggles worn by expert military snipers and supported by clandestine stealth technologies.  

Drones on terror are the only ways our military can protect people from terrorist networks, those that are bent on killing Americans. Drones save the lives of our military and civilians, while strategically protecting our national security.

Let's use Drones to our military strategic advantage; but always with the advantage of transparency about when and why they're deployed to attack and destroy our overt terrorist enemies.  

Boston Marathon Bombing is Among a Cluster - We're Missing Warning Signs

Boston Marathon's bombing on April 15th was an unanticipated assault on innocent people that raises alert signals for potential future heinous incidents. Perhaps knowing this potential reality is why former President George W. Bush was so concerned about the Boston attack.

“I was deeply concerned that this could have been another highly organized attack on the country and it still may be,” Bush said of the Boston Marathon bombing. “Again, I don’t know the facts, but I do know it’s really hard to protect the homeland. Those who want to do harm only have to be right one time, and we have to be right 100 percent of the time.”  

Three people were killed and more than 200 were injured in the Boston bombings on Patriot's Day.  Police arrested Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old college student, following an intense manhunt last Friday. His brother and alleged coconspirator, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed in a shootout with police earlier that day.

The day before the Tsarnaev brothers were captured, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, exploded after a fire, killing at least 14 people and leaving hundreds more injured. In his interview with ABC News, Bush said that the twin tragedies reminded him of his time in the White House.

“It did hearken back to days where you become comforter-in-chief, you try to help heal souls that are hurting,” Bush said.

Moreover, the assumption of a potential coordinated attack was supported by a cluster of incidents that may be unrelated but sure are coincidental.

1.  April 15 - Boston Marathon attack on the city's Boylston Street.
2.  April - Ricin poison laced envelops sent to Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker and President Barack Obama - Charges were dropped in the case against Paul Kevin Curtis.  Everett Dutschke has since been arrested.
3.  April 22 - Canadian Broadcasting (CBC) reports of a thwarted bombing plot in Montreal, an Al Qaeda terror attempt targeting a US bound train. (Police say they arrested two men accused of conspiring to carry out an "al-Qaeda supported" attack targeting a Via passenger train in the Greater Toronto Area, following a cross-border investigation that involved Canadian and American law enforcement.)
4. April 14 -horrific West Texas fertilizer explosion kills first responders who rushed in to help victims. At least 14 people were killed, 200 injured and dozens of buildings were damaged in the blast. Investigators have not determined what started the blast or whether it was intentional. At least two lawsuits have been filed against Adair Grain Inc., which operated the West Fertilizer plant.
5.  April 22 - Man escapes by boat after trying to enter a Tennessee nuclear power plant as described in this Associated Press release:


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An East Tennessee nuclear power plant has added security patrols after a weekend incident in which an officer exchanged gunfire with a man who then fled on a boat.

The FBI and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are investigating the shooting that occurred around 2 a.m. Sunday at Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Watts Bar nuclear power plant near Spring City, Tenn., about 60 miles southwest of Knoxville.

Officials say no recent threats were made against the plant or its staff, but TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said security at the plant remains heightened and more security patrols are being performed there.

The incident began when a security officer was driving a routine patrol around the grounds and spotted a person on the bank of the Tennessee River, which lies on the eastern border of the facility.

Hopson said the man was on the perimeter of the TVA property and several hundred yards from the site's protected area where the reactor and power production facilities are. The plant has two nuclear units, but one is operating and the other is currently under construction.

Boaters are allowed in the river near the facility, but are not allowed on the banks, Hopson explained. He said the officer was by his vehicle up above the bank and was talking with the man to determine why he was there when the man shot at the officer multiple times.

The above incidents are a cluster of seemingly unrelated incidents. Nevertheless, they are connected to one another because of their correlation to real or perceived terrorism.

Tragically, no country on earth is immune from terrorist attacks, but the cluster of incidents is concerning. Diligence is essential because the occurrences, reported only a few days apart, in our homeland or targeted to America, are ominous harbingers of more lurking dangers.  

It's not only Al Qaeda we should be terrified about, either.  

Farah Stockman reports in the Boston Globe how we must be diligent about home grown terrorism. She reports about  Marc Sageman, a forensic psychiatrist who once worked for the CIA, who made a bold prediction: Al Qaeda’s glory days were over. The greatest threat now was not a plot hatched and paid for by a mastermind in Afghanistan, but rather the ideas of countless “homegrown wannabes” in Europe and the United States.  “The threat is no longer ‘foreign fanatics,’ but people who grew up in the West,” he wrote in his book “Leaderless Jihad.”

Frankly, the future of terrorism and the mayhem it intentionally distributes like poisonous dust, is with us now.  It's not an organized enemy.

But the cluster of events President Bush reacted to by his concern is a well timed warning.  We must study the nature of terrorism and figure out how to eradicate its root causes, before more cluster incidents turn out to eventually become a repeat of the terror of September 11, 2001.

Boston Marathon Tragedy - Uniting America Where We Began

Boston bombings suddenly puts terrorism back high on the national agenda.  

This horrific wake up call perpetrated in the city adjacent to where our Democracy began with the "shot heard around the world" (in Lexington and Concord), reminds us of who we are as a nation and how we are united.

Former Massachusetts (Boston area) Congressman Barney Frank said on CNN said, (...immense April 15th tragedy notwithstanding)..."Here we saw government...serve people very well...no tax cut would have helped us to recover (from this)." 

In other words, Americans can't let divisive politics continue to rule our agenda, when there's simply too much to loose by feeding wasteful and polarizing politics.

Americans are united in demanding answers to the five "W's" of this evil attack - who did it? what motivated it? when were these devastating bombs planted at busy Copley Square, placed so as to create the most chaos, death and destruction, where was it planned? and why did it happen?

My sincere sympathy to those who were attacked in the senseless assault on innocent people who were appreciating a very long standing annual marathon tradition.  Particularly tragic is the loss of an innocent 8 year old Richard Martin  (this child's name was inversely reported and is correctly Martin Richard). He was at the event to watch his father race. Sadly, his mother and 6-year-old sister suffered serious injuries.  His mother underwent surgery for an injury to her brain and his sister lost a leg in the explosion. Incredibly tragic outcomes.....

This loss of innocents has no rational explanation....it's clearly an act of evil madness.

Our national response to this cowardly attack, regardless of who perpetrated it, is a statement of how we care about our national human condition.  Without regard for political of financial compensation, Boston's emergency and medical response was extraordinarily efficient.

Nevertheless, this shock to our sense of national security is more than a tragedy, it's a serious symbolic reminder that our world will never be completely safe from evil people who are relentlessly intent on killing innocent people.

Evil people eventually fail - they always fail, indeed, they've never succeeded.  Instead, these and all heinous acts, intended to create pandemic fear, only serve to unite good people against whatever obsessive cause the mindless demons are attacking.  

Unfortunately, the initial lack of information about who might be responsible for the evil Boston Marathon attack may signify a new normal for the operations  of gruesome people with destructive intentions.  Rather than boast, these evil doers may have a seditious strategy to keep silent.

It's a terrible terrorism incident, but the Boston Marathon Tragedy is another in a series of deadly reminders about our fleeting time on this beautiful earth. Moreover, it's a time for us to reflect on how important it is for us to support and care for each other.

Americans, and the world of good people are united against evil. We're likewise united in expressing grief for Boston, the Hub, and where our patriotic identity began, in Lexington and Concord.  

Like 1775, when the shot heard around the world served as a clarion call for national independence, the April 15th Boston bombing will have a uniting influence on America's agenda against terrorism, regardless of where its evil intentions are located.

What Were You Doing on September 11th 2001?

My daughter-in-law Cheryl Grabowski L'Heureux posted this living September 11th memory on facebook. I've cut and pasted the story into this blog because her experience is a compelling and living reminder of the horror Americans witnessed on September 11, 2001 when thousands of innocent people were murdered by an act of terrorism.

On 9/11/2001 I was on a train on my way into NYC. I was going to the WTC to meet up with a few employees...Nichole Gonzales was one of them. We were going to look at the site where my company was building a new store in the mall (not sure if ya'll know, but there was a really nice mall in the bottom of WTC.

That morning, I lingered in bed, not really wanting to get up. I was now running late and needed to leave. Roger dropped me off at the train station and kissed me goodbye. The train ride into NYC is always quite, business men and women going to work.

At 8:48 am my cell phone rang. My store manager of my South Street Seaport store, who lives in Battery Park, called and screamed "a plane just hit the WTC!" I repeated back to her, "a plane hit the WTC?". Sounding alarmed others looked up over at me and started asking "what happened?" I said "a plane just hit WTC".

I hung up with her and immeditaly called Roger. He had not heard about it yet and he turned on the radio. While we were talking he screamed "another plane just hit the other tower". I yelled out on the train "another plane just hit the other tower".

At this point, every single person is on their cell phone with family, work, friends, trying to find out what was going on. Roger said "get off the train at the next stop and I'll come get you". I got off the train and waited for Roger. I called my Mom, crying, and getting her anwering machine. I told her I was OK and did not make it into NYC that day. I called my Father,Grandmother, and friends as well.

Roger picked me up and as we were driving on the NJ Turnpike we saw a huge plume of smoke. We looked at eachother, horrifed, and said OMG, the towers just fell. I was numb at this point. I could not believe what was happening. It felt so surreal, it was unimaginable that this was happening here, in the USA.

At home, I could not take my eyes off of the tv set. I needed to know why this happened.

Fate has a funny way of showing herself...if I would have gone to work earlier, I would have wanted to meet with the mall marketing manager before the mall became busy. This means I would have been on a higher floor, not sure which, and would have experienced the tragic nightmare firsthand.

For all of those who lost someone on 9/11, I pray for you and for them. For those who have loved ones fighting for our country, I pray for them and their families.