Open Note to Kayla Mueller's Family

I found this article on the net. It told me so much about Kayla. She measured herself against the potential she had to be an instrument of good in the world.

September 2, 2007

WILLIAMSON VALLEY - Prescott native Kayla Mueller (click here) has spent most of her 19 years in the same house and attended local schools.

However, the outside world is at her back door, and she is broadening her horizons by moving away from home for the first time to attend Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. An undeclared major, she said that she will consider anthropology, environmental science or international relations.

"I love cultures and language and learning about people's cultures," she said....

There are many young men and women that embrace the quality of life we enjoy in the USA and want to share it with the world so everyone can have a new benchmark to reach. I think Kayla was one of those young people that could not contain her love of her country and the potential she had in the world because she lived in the USA. She was a magnificent person and no one can take that away from her. I think for many who speak out against her life as being all that everyone ever believed of her; they find it difficult to come to understand her boundless generosity of spirit. She loved unconditionally and that is completely obvious.

I grieve a little differently for her. I was aware there were many NGOs sent to help the people of Syria. They were sent on missions of mercy to the humanitarian crisis. Little did any of the aid workers realize their capacity to administer some degree of comfort to the people would turn into a nightmare. I grieve the fact we as a world were not as insightful to their circumstances before they went forward selflessly to carry out compassion. I grieve for what I believed about her safety. Her loss because of what we believed to be true about the civil war and what appeared to be a safety margin because the soldiers had compassion for their people.

Now, add to that the fact Kayla was such a glorious person. She is precious in all aspects of her life. She is such a loss to this country I cannot imagine the USA ever making this mistake with their citizens ever again. The USA has to assess the dangers to such people differently. It has to acquire the authority to say "No." It has to say no to people leaving to carry out a mission of mercy. 

Kayla has taught the world a great lesson. She has made me and others measure humanitarian crisis and compassion to plight differently. She is far to important to ever have this happen again.

I realize it is early to her loss for her family. One of the ways to honor her is to build a fund to provide young people with skills to discern their safety as well as their compassion. There is a common thread among the people we have lost in Syria. They were kind, compassionate and a bit naive to the value of their life as viewed from ruthless people. 

Americans like to think they are survivors to any circumstances life has handed them, but, the fact of the matter is we have frailties. Kayla was never suppose to become a victim. Her life story will relate such a reality to others who have her interests. I hope the family finds a way to create a fund that will honor her name and portray her love of life.

There are no words that can diminish her life or her identity. For as wonderful as Kayla was, she had a family that contributed to her capacity to care.

My deepest sympathies.

I wish all that loved her peace. 

No other country outside the Middle East sees the war as a threat to their sovereign countries the way the USA does.

I need to mention the fact the USA is not alone in the Middle East with the countries that are our allies. Recently, Russia has been involved with Egypt. (click here) That looks as though that will become a longer termed relationship than it has been in the past.

Additionally, China has been a friend of Pakistan for decades. (click here)

There is no major power in the world that is not concerned about the outcomes in the Middle East. It is not just the USA, but, it is just the USA Congress interested in ratcheting up the war profile in any country. It is my guess the Egyptian President has become more resolute about intervening with any threats coming out of Libya due to the involvement of Russia.

I find it very curious that no other country in the world is interested in anything else except assisting these countries in defending themselves. But, then communist countries don't really have the continual political dogma as the Republicans in the USA do, but, it isn't just communists is it? The NATO allies are not interested in escalating war so much as ending it.

The USA has had enough of illegal wars and dead service men and women! 

Iraq was an illegal and immoral war. So, was Vietnam. The war mongers in the USA need to get their heads around that! 

There is a profound difference between other major nations in the world and the USA; it's military budget.

Zuckerberg chooses hard shell rather than friends as neighbors.

February 11, 2015

By John Gapper

...So what is the term (click here) for sullying profits from legal enterprise with tax evasion and shenanigans? Money staining, perhaps.

That question came to mind this week when reading about the 30,000 clients of HSBC’s Swiss private bank in the mid-2000s. Some were apparently avoiding domestic taxes; others were behaving lawfully but very oddly, emerging from its branch in Geneva holding cases of used banknotes. The activity was not black but nor was it entirely white: there were various shades of grey....

...Spare a thought for the billionaire, whose life is in some respects more challenging than ours. The property story of the week, amid those in Le Monde and The Guardian about HSBC, and a New York Times series about foreigners buying apartments on Central Park, was how Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, came to acquire all of the property around his house....

When the few hold all the money in the world do banks have a choice in the way it's services are used?

Even China is taking up offshoring tax evasion. There is growing international acceptance of these practices.

February 10, 2015
By Toh Han Shih

The mainland (click here) has stepped up its participation in the G20's fight against international tax avoidance by passing a law cracking down on the indirect sale of assets outside the country to avoid paying taxes.
The law would affect investment companies, analysts said, adding it would also have a significant impact on Hong Kong, a major hub for cross-border deals involving the mainland.
To strengthen global cooperation against tax avoidance, a law on tax on gains from the indirect sale of assets by offshore companies took effect last Tuesday, the State Administration of Taxation said on Friday.
"This announcement is the latest policy of the taxation administration's proactive participation in the G20 base erosion and profit shifting action plan [against tax avoidance]," it said.
Liu Jinghua, a Beijing-based tax partner at Baker & McKenzie, an international law firm, said the new rules "clearly indicate China will focus more on cross-border anti-avoidance enforcement"....

There was not one person killed in an argument over a parking spot, it was three people, all Muslims.

February 11, 2015
By Mark Berman, Sarah Kaplan and Kevin Sullivan

Police said that they had arrested Craig Stephen Hicks, (click here) 46, and charged him with the shootings. Hicks turned himself in “without incident” to the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office in nearby Pittsboro after the shooting, Chatham County Sgt. Kevin Carey said Wednesday.
The shooting deaths of three Muslims prompted concerns that the violence was motivated by their religion, and leading Muslim civil rights advocates called for police to address that possible explanation. But the Chapel Hill Police Department said Wednesday that it appeared, at least initially, that the shooting centered on a parking argument.
“Our preliminary investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking,” the department said in a statement. “Hicks is cooperating with investigators and more information may be released at a later time.”
The father of the two women killed disputed the idea that it was simply an argument involving parking, saying Wednesday that one of his daughters had previously told her family about Hicks having a problem with the way she looked....

This is not the average frustration over a parking spot. I don't see a rash problem with violence over parking spots in the country.

There needs to be an investigation to the reason such intense hatred existed over a parking spot. The family of the victims aren't comfortable with the dismissal of hate crimes. The political environment in NC is horrible. It is victimizing. It is very difficult to believe a man simply "lost it" because of a parking spot. There are three, not one, dead. There is more here and the US Attorney needs to investigate the crime rather than dismiss it.

If the family believes the government is dismissing any hate crime, it needs to gather any witness information from people that had contact with any of the three victims and their reporting of problems with Mr. Hicks. If there was an understanding by those surrounding these three people there was hate fueling the conflict over a parking spot, they need to come forward. 

The tone of law enforcement right now doesn't sound like they are looking to charge Mr. Hicks with murder. If the three victims are as responsible for the conflict, Mr. Hicks will be charged with three counts of aggravated manslaughter. 

North Carolina has the Castle Doctrine.

§ 14-51.3.  Use of force in defense of person; relieffrom criminal or civil liability. (click here)

(a)        A person is justified in using force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that the conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other's imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat in any place he or she has the lawful right to be if either of the following applies:

(1)        He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another.

(2)        Under the circumstances permitted pursuant to G.S. 14-51.2.

(b)        A person who uses force as permitted by this section is justified in using such force and is immune from civil or criminal liability for the use of such force, unless the person against whom force was used is a law enforcement officer or bail bondsman who was lawfully acting in the performance of his or her official duties and the officer or bail bondsman identified himself or herself in accordance with any applicable law or the person using force knew or reasonably should have known that the person was a law enforcement officer or bail bondsman in the lawful performance of his or her official duties.  (2011-268, s. 1.)

The USA is needed less and less in the Middle East. There has been participation by many countries to bring the region up to speed regarding those within their own countries and faith seeking to destroy civilization and kill those that resist.

Egypt has previously attacks Libya and continues to secure it's borders.

February 11, 2015
Egyptian sources (click here) say the country’s military killed a Hamas commander during an airstrike in the Sinai peninsula, Sky News Arabic on Wednesday.... 

The countries of the Middle East don't want the USA there, except, for what expertise and intelligence they can add to the arsenal of these countries. There is no room for American GIs in a battle. American soldiers are out of place there.

Egypt is the first country to receive attacks from the Gaddafi munitions.

February 5, 2015
Yochanan Visser 

...First, four bombings (click here) were carried out in Cairo on Friday January 23th. Six people were killed, and more than 100 were injured in these explosions. In one case, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb near a police station killing 5 and injuring 51. The blast also severely damaged a 19th-century Islamic art museum.
Last Friday, an Army helicopter was shot down with surface-to-air missiles. These missiles are smuggled into Egypt from the arsenals of Muammar Qaddafi in Libya. The attack was carried out by the Al-Qaeda off-shoot Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis that declared its allegiance to the Islamic State and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in December 2014. After the group aligned with Islamic State, it changed its name in Wilayat Sinai (Sinai Province) to underline that Sinai is now part of the Islamic State....

There are on going talks in Algiers that are facing an escalation in violence that could jeopardize those peace agreements. If the USA were to enter the battlefield as before in Iraq, these talks would implode and the region would return to higher levels of violence.

January 23, 2015

Algiers — Algeria, (click here) leading mediator in the Inter-Malian dialogue, represented by Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, and the UN through the voice of its representative in Mali, Hamdi Mongi, chief of Minusma, stressed Thursday in a joint communiqué that the "extremely worrying" developments in the north of Mali "may undermine the underway peace process in Algiers."
"Ramtane Lamamra, Foreign Minister of Algeria, leading mediator and Hamdi Mongi, Special Representative of United Nations Secretary General (UN) in Mali and Chief of Minusma, conducted with different parties, consultations on the extremely worrying developments having marked these days in the locality of Tabankort well as the climate of tension and insecurity in the region," the joint communiqué said.
"These consultations led to the conclusion that these developments are likely to jeopardize the ongoing peace process in Algiers," the two sides said, recalling the obligations of all parties under international humanitarian law, in particular with regard to protection of civilians in armed conflict....

The real challenge to the region is destroying munitions and machinery in Libya. It is the Gaddafi left overs that are adding to violence. It is nearly the primary disruptive problem. When looking across the reporting it is many times Libyan equipment and munitions that are escalating the killing and violence.

The Libyan threat isn't really from a specific military moving across the region, but, more salesmen of the equipment that empowers civil war and otherwise. Currently, the Libyan government appears to be powerless to end the raiding of military stores. I don't know why that is, except, for the diverse ethnicity in the region of north Africa, especially, Mali. Every ethnic group seems interested in arming and that is probably due to IS to some extent. But, this violence has been building since the attack of east Libya by Gaddafi. There is very little faith in governance.

Aren't they getting hungry? One would think these peoples would be complaining about empty bellies and not empty munition boxes. If the governments were providing valuable humanitarian aid perhaps some of this violence would be reined in, but, with heightened fears it is difficult to remove the guns from their hands.

There is no lost ground by offering humanitarian aid. Living people with full bellies are easier to deal with than those convinced the government is trying to starve them. 

"They're right."

Clint Eastwood prides himself on being authentic. I appreciate his answers. It is difficult to be an oppositional voice when the facts are clear, but, it is nearly impossible for these men to bring the truth to any forum when the facts are less transparent. I sincerely thank Mr. Eastwood for his responsible answers.

The film is not a documentary. That should be said first. But, to attempt to suppress truth telling is a mistake. When half-truths and propaganda gains ground in the USA the world becomes more dangerous. The allies we have in the Middle East are involved because we are not lying to them. We are friend and they in turn are our friends.

The USA needs a Muslim Appreciation Day. I couldn't be more serious.

There is a "Cinco de Mayo," right?

This is one family. Devasting. It is a hate crime. I don't accept anything short of that. 

The North Carolina legislature is lined with Islamophobes. That is their propaganda they use and their media (FOX) uses. Bill O'Reilly can begin to worry about stealing Ramadan from the Muslim Community along with his Christmas vigilance. The North Carolina legislature needs to pass a measure indicating an appropriate day as "Muslim Appreciation Day."

February 11, 2015
By Doug Stanglin

An ongoing dispute (click here) over an apartment parking space may have led to the shooting deaths of three Muslim college students in North Carolina, but investigators are trying to determine if the killings could also have been hate-motivated, police said Wednesday.
Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who turned himself in to the Chatham County Sheriff's Office, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the fatal shootings Tuesday afternoon at an apartment building in Chapel Hill....

It is hate legislation and translates into same in segments of society. The entire legislation is based in fear and hate. It has no basis in reality.

August 27, 2013
By Omar Sacirby
 
(RNS) North Carolina (click here) became the seventh state to prohibit its judges from considering Islamic law after Gov. Pat McCrory allowed the bill to become law without formally signing it.
McCory, a Republican, called the law “unnecessary,” but declined to veto it. The bill became law on Sunday (Aug. 25).
The state joins Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Tennessee.
Supporters hailed the bill as an important safeguard that protects the American legal system from foreign laws that are incompatible with the U.S. Constitution, while critics argued that the bill’s only purpose is to whip-up anti Muslim hatred because the Constitution already overrides foreign laws.
“The intent behind this law is bigoted and it is intended to alienate the Muslim community,” said Jibril Hough, a spokesman for the Islamic Center of Charlotte.
The North Carolina ban is limited to family law; bans in other states are broader, applying to commercial law, contract law and other types of laws....

If only the dream would come true and the world was united under one Islamic State.

This group of former Taliban fighters pledged allegiance to IS in Pakistan last month.

February 9, 2015

A drone strike (click here) in Afghanistan has killed a militant commander who recently swore allegiance to Islamic State (IS), officials say.

The police chief of Helmand said that former Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Rauf had died in the Nato strike.
It emerged last month that Rauf had sworn allegiance to IS after falling out with the Taliban.
Tribal elders in northern Helmand say a car carrying up to six people was destroyed while crossing the desert.
The car was loaded with ammunition and exploded, reports said.... 

At least they are known. The brutality of the regime is enough to provide clout in some regions. These are not new recruits, they are established organizations consolidating under IS. Probably a promise of weapons or something. The new warlord.

...Where else is Islamic State active?

Egypt: Based in Sinai, the IS branch was essentially a re-branding of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which first emerged in 2011 in the wake of the Egyptian revolution.
 
Libya: Three distinct Libyan IS "provinces" were announced in November - Barqah in the east, Tripoli in the west and Fazzan in the south.
 
Algeria: A breakaway group from al-Qaeda's North Africa branch (AQIM), the IS branch rose to prominence in September when it beheaded French tourist Herve Gourdel. Since then it has been largely silent.
 
Yemen and Saudi Arabia: The new branches have not claimed any activities yet but the move represents a symbolic challenge to al-Qaeda.
 
Afghanistan-Pakistan: IS says its branch here represents the historic Khorasan Province - a region covering Afghanistan, Pakistan and "other nearby lands".

The Khorsan Province is a large geographic area in all three countries. I believe Southern Khorsan is in Iran. If that is correct, Southern Khorsan has a thriving economy. 

February 2, 2015

he Islamic State jihadist group is reported to be making a push into what they call as Khorasan, a region that covers Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of India, and some surrounding countries.
''We bring the mujahidin the good news of the Islamic State's expansion to Khorasan,'' Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, who claims to be spokesman of the Islamic State, made the announcement in an audiotaped speech posted on jihadi forums.
He also announced the appointment of former Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Hafiz Saeed Khan as governor of the province in Khorasan. Abdul Rauf Khadim, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and former Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan has been named deputy governor.
- See more at: http://www.domain-b.com/defence/general/20150131_khorasan.html#sthash.r54pYSpL.dpuf

The Movement of the Taliban (click here) in Pakistan's emir for the tribal agency of Bajaur has defected and joined the Islamic State's branch in the Khorasan. Maulana Abu Bakr is the latest Taliban commander to defect to the rival jihadist organization.
The Islamic State's Wilayat Khorasan, or Khorasan province, announced that Abu Bakr "has left Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan and given bayat [oath of allegiance] to Khaleefa tul Muslimeen Sheikh Abu Bakr al Baghdadi Hafizahullah at the hand of Wali [governor] of Wilayah Khurasan Hafiz Saeed Khan Hafizahullah."
The short announcement was published in Arabic, Urdu, Bengali, and English on the Internet today. The Khorasan is a geographical region that covers Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of neighboring countries....

The IS is quickly becoming a belief and not just a group.

An Islamic State is more a charismatic movement in these regions. The practice of the Islamic State has to be made illegal by governance. The reason it should be illegal is because it distorts the definition of Allah and Mohammad. Holy men have to denounce it as an extremist belief designed to remove quality of life to the people it oppresses.

Leadership has to define what is legal and illegal. Perverting a faith is not a minor business. When it is used to define killing and ethnic cleansing it is an enemy to all. 

I might point out Saudi Arabia does not have problems with such charismatic movements. The King of Saudi Arabia is also the "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques." Refuting IS as a belief is rather simple.

he Islamic State jihadist group is reported to be making a push into what they call as Khorasan, a region that covers Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of India, and some surrounding countries.
''We bring the mujahidin the good news of the Islamic State's expansion to Khorasan,'' Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, who claims to be spokesman of the Islamic State, made the announcement in an audiotaped speech posted on jihadi forums.
He also announced the appointment of former Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Hafiz Saeed Khan as governor of the province in Khorasan. Abdul Rauf Khadim, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and former Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan has been named deputy governor.
- See more at: http://www.domain-b.com/defence/general/20150131_khorasan.html#sthash.r54pYSpL.dpuf