Terrorism in Paris

As the death toll rises in Paris from the unconscionable acts of terrorists, there are reports that Great Britain's MI5has been monitoring the chatter of known ISIS members to identify and thwart attempts by them to take revenge for the killing of "Jihadi John."

Is there a causal connection between the drone attack on this murderer and the attacks in Paris.  Perhaps, perhaps not.  It has been less than 48 hours since he was apparently killed by a U. S. aerial attack.  What happened and may still be happening in Paris was clearly well-coordinated and planned.  It might be that the death of Jihadi John accelerated the timetable for an attack that was scheduled to take place later this year, possibly around the holidays.  Terrorist actions are always devastating in terms of loss of life and the harm to our collective emotional well-being but they would be more so right around Christmas.

It doesn't really matter.  The takeaway from this must be a simple one.  The only answer to terrorism is to terrify the terrorists.  Whether it is shock and awe type attacks, or more devious operations, ISIS and other such organizations can't be stopped by killing just the leadership.  That may disorganize and slow their efforts.  It won't completely stop them.

We as a nation, as a collection of nations, as the population of a planet must come together and rise up against terrorism and terrorists.  We need to hunt down each and every one of them and either imprison or execute them.  Until we do, this will not stop.  No amount of vigilance will be 100% successful in preventing acts of terrorism.  It just isn't possible.  If terrorists keep trying to run operations, ultimately one of them will not be prevented.  Even one is too many to allow.

At this writing, the death toll stands at 118 with who knows how many more wounded or dead and waiting to be added to the body count.

I'm truly sad today.  I'm even more angry.