International Terrorism

Open letter to President Obama, US State Department, US Military, and News Media:

I have a few questions concerning international terrorism, which I propose to all of the above. Those persons may have personally considered answers to these questions in private, but I have not heard answers in public announcements.

The Department of Homeland Security has recently switched their announced program from an accent on international terrorism, including Al Qaeda, to homegrown terrorism. The matter of homegrown terrorism can be discussed later. For now, I would like to question our policies and activities on international terrorism, even though international seems to have reduced attention.

Yemen and Pakistan are considered to be nesting places for the development of terrorism programs against the US. We have presumably been giving these countries significant amounts of money to reduce and eliminate terrorism development within their borders. This has obviously not been completely successful. We have the military capability to locate training camps and use explosive missiles to wipe them out, without putting a foot on foreign soil. Why don't we advise the administration's of those countries that their programs of control have basically failed, and we are now taking the next step of assuming direct responsibility for this elimination or at least much improved control?

I notice that when the US catches a foreign terrorist, he is usually of Jordanian, or other Middle Eastern or African origin. I also notice that Western Europe seems to be a target as well as the US. How about Russia? I don't see any reports on Middle Eastern or African terrorist activities in Russia. They seem to have some problems with terrorists from areas previously controlled by the Soviet Union, but why no Middle East and or African terrorists? Am I missing something? Do Middle Eastern and African terrorist have no complaints against Russia, and therefore are inactive there? If so, why?

We have many terrorist control procedures in US airports, and the same goes for Western European airports. We hear a little about terrorist control procedures at Israeli airports, but nothing about Russian airports. Why? Russians are very capable people, and their government is usually very efficient in such matters. Is there something we can learn from them, or does the problem not exist there? The same goes for China. No problem there or do they have some good control procedures on international terrorism, which we should be using?

Now switch to the Taliban in Afghanistan. The international terrorism of the Taliban seems to be confined against our military in Afghanistan, rather than terrorism episodes on the US homeland. If our military was not in Afghanistan, there presumably would be no terrorism against it. The Russians fought against somebody in Afghanistan for several years and finally gave up the fight. Were they fighting against the Taliban? Is the Taliban seeking revenge on Russia by terrorist activities on Russian soil? If not, why not? Perhaps there is some sort of armed truce. If there is, can we do that too? Remember, this is an Obama war. We do not need to be in Afghanistan to protect ourselves at this stage, and we are not in the business of nation building, with all of our other problems. If we leave the Afghanis to their own devices, as we should, we solve the immediate problem of terrorism against our military.

What's the bottom line? I suspect that we have not been looking at international terrorism in a practical way. We even tend to foster it by giving away money, which indicates our lack of resolve in reducing the problem. Terrorism is a physical activity. It must be controlled in a physical way by the military. A "do good" attitude only contributes to its continuance, with money needlessly flowing down the drain. Public opinion is strongly to blame in developing this "do good" attitude. A public demand of quickly prosecuting and sentencing captured terrorists will do much in reducing the problem. Strong measures are necessary, including the death penalty for those who have attempted mass murder.