Robert Green wrote:

I wonder what the bottom line $ cost will be for this effort
and how much US taxpayers will spend.

I've heard nothing about China sending it's navy in there to do the job.

Or am I just not tuned into the right station?

it appears that the plane's transponders were intentionally
turned off, ...

For one thing, do we trust all statements made by authorities - like the
Malaysian gov't and military?

Was the transponder turned off, or was their a failure to detect it?

What is the range of the transponder?

What other facilities would have been in a position to detect it for the
first 40 minutes of the flight?

Did the Malaysians shoot down flight MH370 if they felt (as you would in
the USA) that a passenger plane flying without beacon, unresponsive to
radio contact, is a defacto threat against the country?