If the climate change alarmists want to discuss the real environmental crisis on the horizon at the upcoming UN COP21 Paris climate extravaganza, they should be formulating a plan to prevent the freezing to death of tens of thousands of refugees in Europe. This is the theme of a new statement, “Terrorism and a Cold Winter Refugee Crisis,” posted Nov. 19 by scientists Paul Driessen and Joe D’Aleo, with Allan MacRae and Madhav Khandekar, on icecap.us, and now on many other sites.

As they explain, tens of thousands of European citizens have frozen to death during winters of extremely cold weather, which, in fact, is what Europe has experienced in much of the past decade. These dramatic swings in temperature are, in fact, caused not by human activity, but by the Sun and other related factors. But it is the action taken by policymakers that will make the difference between life and death.

The authors point out that in extremely cold years, the U.S. can experience about 100,000 excess deaths. Overall, they report, there are 20 times more deaths from extreme cold, than extreme heat. For the refugees, in “extreme poverty, [with] poor nutrition, inadequate clothing and blankets, pre-existing diseases, and makeshift housing,” the excess winter death toll could be staggering; even higher than the 50,000 excess winter deaths in the U.K.

Paul Driessen is an analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT). A recent interview with Driessen appears in the new EIR Special Report, “Global Warming Scare Is Population Reduction, Not Science.” Joe D’Aleo, an American Meteorological Society Fellow, co-founded The Weather Channel.

Four veterans of the U.S. Air Force with more than 20 years of experience between them in drone operations, three as sensor operators and the fourth as a communications technician, have written to President Obama calling on him to reconsider the policy of targeted killings by drone because, they say, it is a “driving force” behind ISIS and other jihadi groups. In an impassioned letter addressed to Obama, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, and CIA Director John Brennan, they write that the tactic has “fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS, while also serving as a fundamental recruitment tool similar to Guantánamo Bay.”

The oldest of the four, Brandon Bryant, who served from 2005 to 2011 in drone squadrons, told the Guardian that he was part of the team that tracked Anwar al-Awlaki by drone for 10 months shortly before he was killed. Bryant said that in his view, he had been made to violate his military oath by being assigned to a mission that killed a fellow American. “We were told that al-Awlaki deserved to die, he deserved to be killed as a traitor, but Article 3 of Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states that even a traitor deserves a fair trial in front of a jury of his peers.”

They called the drone strategy self-defeating because the civilian casualties create hatred for the United States. “Right now it seems politically expedient,” said Cian Westmoreland, the communications technician. “But in the long term the bad side of a Hellfire missile and drones buzzing overhead is the only thing that a lot of these people know of the United States or Britain.”

The text of their letter follows:

The letter is signed by Brandon Bryant, sensor operator; Cian Westmoreland, RF Transmissions Systems technician;  Stephen Lewis, sensor operator; and Michael Haas, sensor operator.