Give Belgium a Break

Turkey authority stated that they had forewarned the Belgium authority about one of the suspects in the Brussels attack on March 22. The suspect traveled to Turkey and had the intention to enter Syria before the Turkish authority at the border stopped him and deported him back to the Netherlands.  Because of this Turkey blames Belgium police and intelligence for failing to keep track of the terrorist and for failure to prevent the attacks in an airport and metro station in Brussels.

I see the point of what the Turkey authority is saying but come on, we should give Belgium a break.  The country is mourning for the victims and the last thing they need is more criticisms and verbal attacks.  And besides terrorist attacks are very much unpreventable. Terrorists can attack anywhere they have their eyes on and there is no way to prevent them.

The United States is known to have the best military force and its police system is very much organized and we have plenty of police on the road and look, the San Bernardino "terrorism-inspired" attack occurred last December, killing 14 people at a government facility in California and this happened right after the Paris attack last November.  But did we blame the Americans for not having a tight security? No, because America is known for its strong military force. Then why are we criticizing the Belgium authority? They did a great job in the capture of Salah Abdeslam, one of the accomplices of the Paris attack, and they are trying their very best to protect its people and prevent further attacks.

My point is there is no way to prevent terrorist attacks.  Most of the attackers are homegrown radicals. They are not refugees or migrants coming from Syria or Iraq. They were born and raise in the country they carried out the attacks and there is no way to keep up with each one of them and make sure they are not planning any future plots.

Rather than pointing fingers, we should devote our time in educating the young people who are prone to radicalization. Most of the terrorists have a criminal background, dropped out of school, and came from a poverty background and they do not feel like they fit in the European society; basically they are considered as the "losers" and outsiders in their society.  We need to use our energy in using education to help these vulnerable young people to see the horrific truth of these so-called jihadist groups.  We need to help them understand that these terrorist groups are criminals who are using them and turning them into monsters that kill innocent lives.  The key is to make education available to the population that has the likelihood to join terrorist groups.  Education is the key to problems in the world and when we use education as the weapon to prevent terrorism, we can save thousand of lives from dying in the hands of terrorists.