Site of the suicide bomb attack.
 AP (excerpts):  Kabul, Afghanistan - A Taliban suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into an armored NATO bus Saturday on a busy thoroughfare in Kabul, killing 17 people, including a dozen Americans in the deadliest trike against the US-led coalition in the Afghan capital since the war began.  The blast occurred on the same day that a man wearing an Afghan army uniform killed three Australian soldiers and an Afghan interpreter in the south - attacks that show the resiliency of the insurgency and are likely to raise new doubts about the unpopular 10-year-old war and the Western strategy of trying to talk peace with the Taliban.  A spokesman for the fundamentalist Islamic movement, which was ousted in the 2001 invasion for its affiliation with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the Kabul attack, saying the bomber had used 1,540 pounds (700 kilograms) of explosives.  US soldiers wept as they pulled bodies from the debris, saying Noor Ahmad, a witness at the scene.  "One coalition soldier was choking inside the burned bus," he said.  "The bottom half of his body was burned," Ahmad said.  NATO said five of its service members and eight civilian contractors working for the coalition died in the attack.  A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to release the information before a formal announcement, said all 13 were Americans.  However, Lt. Col. Christian Lemay, a Canadian Defense spokesman, told the Associated Press that one Canadian soldier was among the troops killed.  The discrepancy could not immediately be reconciled.  It was the deadliest single attack against the US-led coalition across the country since the Taliban shot down a NATO helicopter on August 6 in an eastern Afghan province, killing 30 US troops, most elite Navy SEALS and eight Afghans.    

Commentary:  President Obama authorized the immigration of 80K Muslims to the US (see post dated 10/23/11 on this page).  More recently, he just mandated removal of the word "Islam" from Terror Training manuals throughout law enforcement and national security communities (see earlier post on this page).  Since we don't seem to be making any headway in the Middle East (all Muslim-dominated countries, except for Israel), one can't help but wonder if he is just trying to spread out the terrorists, maybe so no one country is inundated?  There is confusion and terror in all of the (Muslim) nations surrounding Israel, yet Israel remains prosperous and peaceful, with exception to the bombs launched into it by the surrounding Muslim nations.  That should tell us all something.  What is President Obama thinking?  "Better is a poor and wise child, than an old and foolish king (or president) who will no longer be admonished" Ecclesiastes 4:13.  "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" Proverbs 14:34.  Jesus said these would be the signs of his imminent return, "Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places" Matthew 24:7.  Let's pray daily for our troops who are in harm's way and risking their lives against Islamic terrorism constantly.  Their families also need our prayers, especially those who have lost loved ones for such a cause as this.  God bless them.