The Smallest Terrorist

People think the death of Osama bin Laden stopped one of the biggest killers in the world.  He’s nothing compared to one of the oldest, most widespread killers in the history of humans—the disease of small pox.

Found in the remains of Egyptian mummies and all over ancient Asia and China, the virus has probably killed more people than wars, famine, and drought have done.  Epidemics in Europe during the Middle Ages affected the course of western history.  Outbreaks of small pox started the decline of the Roman Empire and, once transported to the New World, succeeded in wiping-out most of the native population.  During the early 1700’s in Europe as many as 400,000 people died annually—about the population of Minneapolis.

The war on small pox started with the practice of inoculation against the disease.  Medical practitioners brought the practice from Istanbul to Western Europe and then to the United States by the mid-1700’s.

The process involved pricking the skin of a person and infecting them with a small amount of pox.  It caused them to become slightly ill but also made them immune to the more serious disease when it struck.

During the American Revolution the Continental army attacked the British city of Quebec.  They came close to succeeding until an outbreak of small pox stopped them. The British army had been inoculated, avoided the plague, and repulsed the American’s attack for good.

Edward Jenner didn’t actually discover the vaccine used against small pox, but he was the first scientist to attempt to control an infectious disease—and he was successful.

By the 1950’s small pox had been effectively eradicated from Europe and North America, thanks to public sanitation efforts and the widespread use of the vaccine.  By 1980, after a world-wide campaign, the World Health Organization announced the official end of the disease in the world and recommended that countries cease vaccination—which meant that today no one has immunity to the disease.  (Even for those of us who received vaccine years ago, the protection has decayed.)

Everyone in the world is vulnerable.

With that scary thought in mind, I’ve written a suspense novel about terrorists who steal samples of small pox from a repository in Russia and intend to infect American school children with it—creating hundreds of “weapons of mass destruction.”  It’s called Reprisal.  It takes place in Minneapolis where several Somali boys have disappeared in the past few years.  In my book, they’ve been kidnapped to be used by the terrorists to carry small pox back into the schools and start a pandemic.

Could it happen?  What do you think our most vulnerable spot is for bio-terrorists to attack?  What should we do?

Something Worse Than bin Laden

People think the death of Osama bin Laden stopped one of the biggest killers in the world.  He’s nothing compared to one of the oldest, most widespread killers in the history of humans—the disease of small pox.

Found in the remains of Egyptian mummies and all over ancient Asia and China, the virus has probably killed more people than wars, famine, and terrorists have done.  Epidemics in Europe during the Middle Ages affected the course of western history.  Outbreaks of small pox started the decline of the Roman Empire and, once transported to the New World, succeeded in wiping-out most of the native population.  During the early 1700’s in Europe as many as 400,000 people died annually—about the population of Minneapolis.

The war on small pox started with the practice of inoculation against the disease.  Medical practitioners took the practice from Istanbul to Western Europe and then to the United States by the mid-1700’s.

The process involved pricking the skin of a person and infecting them with a small amount of pox.  It caused them to become slightly ill but also made them immune to the more serious disease when it struck.

During the American Revolution the Continental army attacked the British city of Quebec.  They came close to succeeding until an outbreak of small pox stopped them. The British army had been inoculated, avoided the plague, and repulsed the American’s attack for good.

Edward Jenner didn’t actually discover the vaccine used against small pox, but he was the first scientist to attempt to control an infectious disease—and he was successful.

By the 1950’s small pox had been effectively eradicated from Europe and North America, thanks to public sanitation efforts and the widespread use of the vaccine.  In 1980, after a world-wide campaign, the World Health Organization announced the official end of the disease in the world and recommended that countries cease vaccination—which meant that today no one has immunity to the disease.  (Even for those of us who received vaccine years ago, the protection has decayed.)

Everyone in the world is vulnerable.

With that scary thought in mind, I’ve written a suspense novel about terrorists who steal samples of small pox from a repository in Russia and intend to infect American school children with it—creating hundreds of “weapons of mass destruction.”  It’s called Reprisal.  It takes place in Minneapolis where several Somali boys have disappeared in the past few years.  In my book, they’ve been kidnapped to be used by the terrorists to carry small pox back into the schools and start a pandemic.

What really scares me—and readers also—is that the “enemy” here is something you can’t see, touch, feel, or smell…how do you defend against it?  Also, once the population learns about the spread of small pox, I think the panic will be worse than the disease itself.

Luckily, I can tell you the heroine in my book succeeds in stopping the terrorists and preventing an outbreak—at the last-minute, of course.

Check-out the book at my web site and tell me what you think.

Measles Outbreak in Minneapolis

Health officials are battling an outbreak of measles spreading in the large Somali community in Minneapolis.  In Pennsylvania a case of measles is traced to an Indian child.  There’s a measles outbreak tracked to Maryland.  A potential measles outbreak is brewing in Boston.

What’s going on?

Measles has almost been eradicated from the United States.  So why is measles suddenly threatening to breakout?

Health officials point to a simple problem: in recent years, fewer parents chose to vaccinate their children.  It creates a cycle that applies to many infectious diseases like small pox.

Over the years, scientists and people worked together to develop vaccines to kill the disease and, as more people used the vaccine, the disease retreated.  The world-wide campaign against small pox. for instance, succeeded in eradicating the disease from the world–because it no longer had humans hosts to live and spread among.  Measles was close to being eradicated in the U.S.

Ironically, as the disease retreated and fewer people got sick, many others decided they, and their kids, didn’t need to be vaccinated anymore.  As a result, when infected people returned from Africa or Europe, many American citizens didn’t have an immunity to the disease.  Measles seems to be getting a foot-hold here again.

Serious?  Yes–people can die from measles.

Health officials warn that since measles rates are low in the U.S. it wouldn’t take many infections to cause an epidemic.  That’s because of something scientists call the “R-factor.”  It’s a way of measuring how fast the disease will replicate itself in other hosts and, therefore, how fast it will spread–especially if few people were protected by vaccination.

In Minneapolis and Boston, the main fight is to try to contain the outbreak to prevent the spread from growing into a full epidemic.

But…what if terrorists tried to use a disease to kill American citizens?

Defense experts say the biggest hurdle for terrorists would be the “release mechanism.”  How would they release it for infection of the maximum number of people?

Disease like small pox and measles would be easier to release because the viruses are airborne and passed like the common cold.  At least with measles, we have vaccines in great quantities.  That’s not the same for small pox.

My book, Reprisal, is a story about terrorists who use small pox as a weapon of mass destruction by trying to infect many school children to start an epidemic.  If you’re intrigued, or scared, by the idea, check it out at my web site or Amazon books.

Is your family vaccinated against measles?  Are you doing anything to protect yourselves?  Should the government step in and do anything for the people who refuse to get vaccinated?  As doctors warn:  even if you don’t want to do anything for yourself, think of all the other people you will infect if you’re not vaccinated.

Domestic Islamic Terrorists Here?

You’ve probably heard about the New York Congressman Peter King who will be conducting hearings for his congressional committee that is investigating domestic Islamic terrorism starting this week.

The  StarTribune carried an Associated Press article about the upcoming hearings at:http://www.startribune.com/nation/117590368.html

The proposed hearings are quite controversial.  Of course, most Americans are worried about domestic terrorists but many say that by singling out Muslims, the Congressman is reverting to McCarthyism.  The inquiry should be broader to include any domestic terrorists.

My new suspense novel Reprisal is about an imbedded terrorist who has worked as a scientist in a Minnesota company for years who plots to release a plague in the state.

If you are interested in these issues, I think you’d like my book.  The plot involves several missing young Somali men who left the Twin City area in the past few years.  The FBI thinks most of them went back to Somalia to fight with militias there.  But several of the young men are still missing and unaccounted for…where did they go?  And why?

In my book, the terrorists have stolen samples of small pox virus from a repository in Russia.  They intend to infect the missing Somali men and return them to American schools in order to start a plague.  And since none of us in the U.S. is immune to small pox any longer, the results could be disastrous.

The story has been described as a “page turner,”  or “one I couldn’t put down.”

What makes the book different from other thrillers is that the main character is an American citizen, a young female defense lawyer who must stop the plot before the plague is allowed to break-out.  She’s a moderate, progressive feminist–and a Muslim.  The story shows the struggles she has to be a loyal American and a faithful Muslim.

If you’d like to read it, send me your email address and I’ll send you the first 50 pages for free with no strings attached.

Maybe I should send a copy to Congressman King!

An Undiscovered Crime

I’m thrilled because my new book Reprisal will be published September 1 and available for purchase in early September.

It’s a thriller/mystery about an undiscovered crime–terrorists plan to use American children as weapons of mass destruction.  Do you remember all the Somali young men who disappeared from the Twin Cities in the past two years?  They were kidnapped by terrorists in order to carry out their plot.

Small pox was eradicated from the planet in 1979.  As a result, no one has been immunized since then and earlier  inoculations have decayed in effectiveness.  Everyone in the world is vulnerable to the disease.  In 1979 two repositories were set up to store active, lethal viruses for future reasearch needs.  One is at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and the other is in Russia.

When a radical Islamic terrorist group steals samples of the virus from Russia, they need human hosts to carry the disease into the schools and infect the entire community.   Led by a brilliant scientist embedded in Minnesota, the release is about to explode until one of the conspirators murders a Somali boy.

The lawyer for the accused murderer is a progressive, feminist American who’s a mainstream Muslim woman.  She hates everything her radical client stands for.  As she investigates the case in preparation for trial, she’s entangled in a race against time to save hundreds of children and the whole community.

One of the themes of the book is religious tolerance; the other is a call to action to mainstream Muslims to speak out against the hijacking of their faith.   The story will educate you about what it’s like to be an American citizen and a faithful, moderate Muslim fighting against the popular impression that all Muslims are extremists. In addition to the story, the defense lawyer goes through her days in court, representing a hilarious group of clients.  You’ll see the back room things that go on regularly and the crazy criminal things people really do.  The characters are based on real-life events, although it would be difficult to put these on reality TV since they’re too real for anyone to believe!

Check out my website to see my upcoming events and book signings.  You can also contact me and let me know how you liked the book.  I look forward to hearing from you. 

Enjoy the book!!

Somali Women Wonder Where Their Boys Went

Not only in Minneapolis/St. Paul are young Somali men (so young, each one is almost a child victim) mysteriously disappearing, it’s happening across the globe.  In a recent article from the StarTribune by James Walsh and Richard Meryhew, entitled, “Jihad draws young men across globe back to Somalia,” www.startribune.com,  it appears that the recruiting of these men is actually world-wide.

The disappearance of almost 20 men here in Minneapolis in the last few years alerted officials and the FBI to the possibility of recruitng to fight in Somalia.  Since Ethiopia (Christians) attacked Somalia (Muslims) some of these men left the Twin Cities to go back to fight in a group called El-Shabaab.  (People think)  It’s a form of human trafficking.

You may ask why law enforcement here was worried about what happened in Somalia.  If the Somali young men could be recruited to fight in Somalia, could they be recruited to fight back here for a war on America.

Having represented the Somali community for many years in the courts, I’ve found them to be warm, intelligent people.  However, they do not trust many others outside their own tribe.  Even within the Somali community, there are disagreements among the tribes, with some people feeling they are better than others. 

If I have difficulty communicating with them (many speak English) because of this distrust, imagine how difficult it is for law inforcement to get reliable, accurate information about the disappearance of the young men.   To a great degree, law enforcement depends on informants for information.  The word sounds bad but can include almost anyone with access to the community. 

So the common theory is the young men are recruited to fight in their homeland.  What if this theory is correct but incomplete?

Could there be more to the disappearances than we’ve discovered so far? 

Let me know if you think there’s more going on than merely freedom fighting in Somalia.  I’ve got an idea that formed the plot for my new book, “The Concealed Enemy,” coming out in Fall of 2010.  What do you think was really going on with the disappearing men?

Tracking Human Traffickers

Third in a Series

In previous posts, I’ve talked about the vast underground world of international criminals who traffick in many illegal items–including humans.  Most are women and children who are sold into prostitution, the sex trade, and slavery for labor.  The criminals operate in a world wide web–but not the one you’re familiar with.

They link themselves together for business pusposes, hooking up and dropping links, as they are needed.  The criminal networks require a variety of job skills: transportation, logistics, financing, inventory control, labor, knowledge of border penetration points, and knowledge of laxity of law enforcement efforts.  The profits from this trade worldwide, run into the billions.  So, that makes something obvious: with the potential profits in a fairly low-risk endeavor, wouldn’t these networks attract the best and brightest criminals? 

The answer is yes!

Governments around the world know of these networks of course, but what is being done to stop them and their activities?

Unfortunately, many countries lack the resources and will to fight them.  Often, the officials in many countries are bribed or even work for the networks.  In 2000, the United Nations passed the protocol against “Smuggling of Migrant People by Land/Sea/Air.”  It hasn’t been ratified yet because most countries don’t even have laws against smuggling!

In the United States, we defend our borders and work hard to stop the criminals, but we’re hampered by a number of disadvantages that the criminals don’t face.  Even our most sophisticated federal agencies, dedicated to sealing our borders and finding the criminals, are modeled on organizational forms that are decades old.  For instance, when organized crime ran rampant during Prohibition, the criminals formed themselves into  top-down pyramid-shaped  groups that mirrored the federal agencies seeking to destroy them.  Both criminal and official groups operated slowly, methodically, and efficiently. 

Today, the criminal networks are web-like, flexible, morphing into new organizations by the minute, as the needs change.  People, money, contraband, and purposes can change rapidly.  For instance, criminals used to specialize in one product, drugs, let’s say.  The federal agencies could investigate that network with time on their hands and predictable activities by the criminals.  Now, the web-like networks may traffick drugs one day and stolen monkeys the next day. 

It’s difficult for bureaucracies to keep up with the changes.  Most of the federal agencies are the old top-down management in pyramid form.  They react slowly to change. 

Is it possible to form net-like organizations in the federal agencies?  Remember, we’re dealing with power brokers, budgets, Congress, pressure groups, unions, and many other players in order to effect change.  As you can imagine, it’s difficult and takes a lot of time.  And when we go beyond our borders to third-world countries, the situation is much worse.

At least, in this country, we recognize the necessisity to seal our borders…something that’s really impossible to do.  But I think the awareness of the need, gives us some protection.  We coordinate between local and federal law enforcement so if a criminal net pops up somewhere, the feds can be alerted quickly.

Still, it remains a challenge that will only increase in effectiveness.  We must figure out ways to fight back.  Do you have any ideas?

Tracking Human Traffickers

Second in a series

In my last post, I recommended you read Ji-Yeon Yuh’s excellent blog at http://womensmediacenter.com  about the journalists former President Clinton helped release from North Korea.  Ms. Yuh speculated the two were investigating illegal human trafficking of Koreans into China.  Although interesting, many Americans might feel this is half-way around the world, unfortunate, but it’s not a problem here.  They’re wrong.

In the past, I have represented children in Juvenile Court who have come to America, sponsored by adults,  inticed with school, homes, jobs, or better living conditions.  When the young people arrive, mostly girls, they are forced into the sex industry in a variety of ways.  The Juvenile Court attempts to intervene to rescue the young women.  Often, it’s successful, but many times the girls, for whatever reasons, cannot escape.

A human trafficking problem like this is the tip of the iceberg, concealing vast, international networks of criminals who traffick in dozens of different products.  Besides humans, organ parts, drugs, illegal plants and rare wood, animals (including the a rare protected monkee from Africa, delivered to a Saudi prince),  weapons, and nuclear material are all moved around the globe each day.  When the price of these items rises, it attracts huge profits and the best criminal minds in the world.

In our country, the FBI estimates the human trade out of Mexico alone to be $6-9 million a year.   Although we patrol our borders more than other countries, as one of the richest in the world, we also attract more criminals trying to sell their products.  The dollars at stake are so huge, corruption of border security is possible.  The technological resources of the criminals are top of the line.

The criminal organizations don’t resemble those of old.  Groups like the Mafia, with top-down management and pyramid shaped forms, look similar to large legitimate organizations.  A small group of management gives orders to be carried out by the larger group underneath.  Communication is slow, change is slow,  ability to react to problems is slow, and technological upgrades lag.  Today, many organizations thrive using this structure, like the US military.  But the new criminal networks look more like a spider’s web.  Why?

These groups don’t have a central management location.  It’s closer to the internet web design.  If a criminal identifies a buyer for organ parts in the US, he will make contact in the criminal “web” (not the Internet) which will put him in contact with a choice of suppliers around the world.  The first to supply the organ at the right price, will make the sale.  Then, other unknown people can plug into the net to provide transportation, financing, warehousing, bribing of border security, planning ideas, technical tools needed, weapons (if needed)…all of them, perhaps, unknown to each other.

Can you imagine how difficult if becomes for law enforcement to find out who’s involved?  For each organ sold in the US there could be an entirely new net of people supplying it.  Add to this the fact most illegal products cross several international borders and you get an idea of the diplomatic, military, political, and law enforcement problems with each transfer.  If one border or product is stopped, the nets simply move or switch to a differenct product within a few days.

What’s the US doing to stop these networks?  What resources do we have?  Can we ever hope to match their flexibility and brains?  I’ll post more about that.  In the meantime, if you have experience with this phenomenon, please let me know.

Tracking Human Traffickers in Korea

Part One in Series

Former President Bill Clinton successfully lobbied for the release of journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee from North Korea.  Writing about this at the Women’s Media Center blog, Journalist Ji-Yeon Yuh raises a fascinating and probably accurate question:  What were the two journalists really doing in North Korea?

The North Korean government caught and convicted them of illegally entering the country.  They had to enter illegally because they were tracking the trafficking story of women out of North Korea and into China.  It seems like a problem far away with little we can do to make a difference.  That’s wrong.

The US State Department estimates that as many as 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year and that a total of perhaps 27 million are presently enslaved because of trafficking.  Here’s the scary part for us:  the majority of profits generated ($15.5 billion according to the International Labor Organization) from trafficking comes from industrialized countries–like the United States.

Eighty percent of humans trafficked are women and girls, usually sold into the sex industry.  I know from personal experience…well, let me explain that!

As a lawyer, I have worked in the juvenile courts in Minnesota.  Like all other states, we have a child protection effort, supported by laws, child protection social workers, and prosecutors to enforce the laws.  Most cases involve local parents who are not parenting adequately or present harm to the children. I have been invovled in cases where several young girls have come to Minnesota on a “temporary” basis, mostly from countries in Africa. They’ve been promised jobs and good schools.  When they get here, instead of the promises, they find themselves coerced into the sex industry. 

Ironically, instead of police finding them, they show up in child protection.  Every girl I’ve ever represented has come here, sponsored by an “uncle” who offers them a home, food, and clothing.  When the igirls fail to show up for school, are referred for medical problems, or are stopped as runaways/vagrants, the county government reacts by protecting them from their “families.”

The girls are offered counseling, safe housing, education, and support.  Usually, that works to get them out of the trafficking trap.  But often, I’ve had clients who say they want to get out, are frightened of their “uncles,” and start to take advantage of services.  But then, they fail to come to the next court appearance.  The “parent/uncle” who has been ordered to return and accept services to stop the child abuse disappears also.  My suspicion is they simply move to a different county.  For instance, in Minnesota, if the uncle were to move across the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to St. Paul, he’d be in another county jurisdiction and could start the network all over again.

Some ask, “Can’t the uncle be prosecuted for being a pimp?”  Sure, if you can find anyone to testify against him.  Child protection at least offers the girls an opportunity to escape–if they can and want to.

Internationally, human trafficking generates #32 billion a year in profits according to the Internatinal Labor Organization.  Think about that…doesn’t it seem likely to attract the best criminal minds in the world?  And besides women, what other things are they bringing into the US?  Could they threaten our national security?  Is our government capable of fighting them?  More about this in my next post.