NEVER FORGET - TERROR IS HERE TO STAY

On Sunday, March 9, a plane carrying 239 people went missing and has yet to be found. Not long after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777, vanished from the radar screens off of the coast of Viet Nam.

The weather was clear, there were no signs of distress, no calls for help, and then silence. No radio contact with air traffic control, and no sign of the flight on radar.

According to published reports, two people on that flight boarded with stolen passports, one Italian and one Austrian. The Malaysian Transport Minister said that the identities of two other passengers are also of concern, and he is working with a number of international intelligence agencies as part of his inquiry. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has also responded with grave concern.

Malaysian authorities are reluctant to call it terrorism, but for several years, we have seen increased terror activity in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The two stolen passports were reportedly stolen in Thailand and used by two people who bought their airline tickets together for the Malaysian flight to China.

That flight disappeared somewhere over the coast of Viet Nam, with an onboard catastrophe that prevented the crew from calling for help and announcing any sign of distress. Search crews consisting of 45 ships and 22 aircraft have located what they have reported are pieces of the aircraft’s door and tail wing.

If there was an explosion in the rear of the plane or the cargo bay or an engine malfunction, we would most likely have heard from the pilots. That leads us to believe that something happened in the front of that plane that took out the communications system, and ultimately took the plane down.

Although it is still too early to call it terrorism, this tragedy, still a mystery, raises some very serious concerns that must be addressed as the search continues for the missing plane.

Were the stolen passports reported to Interpol by the Thai authorities, and/or the Italian and Austrian Embassies? If not, why not?   If so, why weren’t these people flagged at passenger check-in and the carriers of the stolen passports stopped?

The authorities will be looking at the cargo handlers, the vendors, other passengers, and even the crew assigned to the flight, including the pilots.  Every inch of video footage will be scoured for clues.  Who were these people?  Did they act alone or did others assist them, including airport or airline personnel?

Although it is still too early to call it terrorism, it not too early to remind people that it is highly possible this is another act of terrorism against, not just the West, but humanity.  Whatever the failures were that led to this disaster must be determined, assessed and learned from. 

Terrorism is here to stay, and the enemies of freedom are constantly seeking new methods of attack. 

Let just hope this isn’t the result of one.