Freedom isn't free. Neither is terrorism.

Freedom isn't free. Neither is terrorism

Friday, November 13, 2015 will be a date synonymous with Paris just like 9/11/2001 is with New York City or Washington. The days that followed were for prayer, mourning and unity (French unity and nationalism, but also a world uniting with France). These were also days for investigation - what happened? How did it happen? How to make sure this never happens again.

We should pray for Paris. Keep them in our thoughts. Paris is one of the great cities of the world and one of the most important for cultural, economic and historical regions. Many things in our history come from Paris. The lives lost were more important than any "cause".

Americans have mixed views of France. France was our big brother during the American Revolution, lending support as we broke away from Britain. France was at our side in every where we fought, although sometimes they wouldn't let us use their airspace for air attacks (which Spain also did not allow, yet somehow we only focused on France). Some Americans love France - it is the fashion and gourmet capital of the world. But some Americans also hate France, perhaps because of their "socialist" government with a short work week and their lack of interest in fighting in some of our Middle Eastern wars. Aside from all of this, France is an ocean away yet when people crossed that ocean, the first thing they saw was a French statue.

So as time has moved based the initial hours since these horrible attacks, we must move on to stopping these attacks from ever happening again. (Note: I did not say "retaliation" - that is an endless bloody mess). In the upcoming days we'll learn more of the bombings/shootings, their source, the people who carried them out. I'd wager to bet most of the killers were young males, probably most of them coming from a background of poverty, war and (if they had better medical care in the past) mental health issues. Perhaps for some "religion" was a means of survival in their lives and a way to become a hero, a martyr. It's the formula of terrorism; find people who have nothing to live for, unite them in a highly-adulterated form of a religion, give them more money and fame than they could ever have otherwise and give them an enemy. It's low-level thinking for low-level people (and not confined to radicalized Islam). There was Al-Qaeda, there was the Taliban and now there is ISIS/ISIL and this group is not the junior varsity. These groups kills hundreds of fellow Middle Easterners and Muslims before they take aim at the west.

ISIS made an awful, un-godly move by their attacks in Paris. No one who is a lover of God, whether they call themselves a Jew or Christian or Muslim, would ever believe in mass-killing and self-killing. ISIS was doing awful things in their own region without much of the "Western" world caring. Now Russia is bombing at will. The US had just been doing drone attacks. Expect more from them. France is bombing now too. Iran would want nothing more to fight against ISIS as well.  Who is their ally? The place where ISIS is now will be a bloody war zone.

I'll ask this however. All these guns in the propaganda video: How much do they cost? These people in ISIS controlled areas... where does their food come from? There's not a lot of crops being grown in Northern Iraq/Western Syria? How do they get electricity? How do they get on the internet to post their videos? All these people in ISIS have lived lives of substance and constant war. In Iraq and Syria, both countries have been lead by authoritative dictators for most of these people's lives. On top of their brutality, numerous wars from Westerners have also been fought in Iraq. These ISIS people are poor and have lived lives of war and fear. They will die for their jaded beliefs because their lives are of so little value that they applaud their own children becoming suicide bombers. And someone pays them $700 a month to be an ISIS soldier. 700 times... how many soldiers? That's a lot of money. I couldn't afford to subsidize one ISIS soldier. Could you?

Someone is paying for this. We'll drop bombs on Syria and northern Iraq. I doubt the money men are there. Why don't we find them. We'll bomb a bunch of poor desperate people, perhaps into oblivion, so that only a few survive. Odds are they are the seeds of the next terror group. Terrorism just keeps going. Someone has been buying terrorism. Just like 9/11, we didn't follow the money. We invaded the wrong country and it was part of the reason ISIS formed where it is. Misguided people attracted to Iraq for the chance to kill "the image of Westerners" they had (when all they really killed were underpaid, overworked American soldiers).

The rich don't fight wars. Obama and Putin won't get behind a tank and pick up arms. But at the same time, wealthy people are funding ISIS. If you killed the money, ISIS would starve, lose electricity, lose weapons. Seems more efficient than sending in thousands of troops to me? Who are these people paying for ISIS? They need to die. They need bombs in their laps and mines in their pools. I don't care if they are in Riyadh or Baghdad. These rich cowards paying poor people to die need to become afraid. Wealthy ISIS patrons need to become afraid. They are more evil than the endless supply of foot soldiers.

Terrorism is a centipede. We keep cutting off legs, not the head.

#WhoIsPaying4ISIS ?