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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Rummy stresses need for greater Latin participation in WOT |
| 2004-11-17 |
| Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that the ability of terrorist organizations to move people, weapons and money across the many borders of Central and South America could be constrained only by increased cooperation among the governments and militaries in the region. At the start of meetings with defense ministers from the Western Hemisphere, Mr. Rumsfeld cited the skill of the groups Hamas and Hezbollah - which are on the United States government's list of terrorist organizations - in raising money in the region. And he warned that smugglers' routes now used to move illegal workers toward the United States border could just as easily be used by terrorists. In outlining Washington's vision for cooperation, he complimented recent military exercises that included naval and coast guard ships and air force jets from the United States, Panama, Chile and six other nations, and focused on skills at intercepting smugglers' vessels and guarding the entrances of the Panama Canal. Members of Mr. Rumsfeld's delegation acknowledged that although there was broad agreement on the dangers of narcotics trafficking and links between criminal organizations in Latin America and the United States, not all nations in the hemisphere shared Washington's definition of terrorism, which focuses on Islamic extremists like Al Qaeda. "Solidarity is a problem," a senior Defense Department official said. Ministers presented a united face on the topic, at least in public. "This is a subject of extreme concern to us," said Nelson Herrera, Ecuador's minister of defense. Mr. Rumsfeld emphasized that security threats of the 21st century could not be solved by any one country working alone. "The enemies of civil order in this world - whether they be hostage takers, gangs, criminals, narco-traffickers, terrorists - they look for weaknesses," he said. "The only real way to defeat the terrorists is to put pressure on them across the board," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "We have to deny them safe havens. We have to seek them out where they are. And we have to cooperate internationally in reducing their ability to raise money." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #10 Hezbollah once again? |
| Posted by: lex 2004-11-17 2:04:29 PM |
| #9 Given today's explosions at Citibank branches in Argentina, this may be timely. |
| Posted by: Tibor 2004-11-17 1:07:37 PM |
| #8 build the wall from Cali all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-11-17 12:46:58 PM |
| #7 Rummy's exposing the deeper flaw in all the "world community" multilateralist mumbo-jumbo: most nations on this planet are run by kleptocratic, incompetent governments that don't really govern. You can't batten the hatches when the ship of state's not seaworthy to begin with. Banana republics are merely milder versions of failed states. Most Latin American governments, like most governments outside of the developed world, are not fully capable of defending their borders. And as in Russia, Nigeria, indonesia, and a hundred other nations, Latin nations' economic assets tend to be viewed as the private domain of a kleptocratic regime that embraces a few dozen powerful families and the nation's "security" services. The notion that a Mexican regime that is throughly infiltrated by the drug trade will somehow prove an effective counter-terrorist link strikes me as ludicrous. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-11-17 12:00:32 PM |
| #6 All these Latin American nations aren't going to do a damned thing until the enemy is right at their doorstep, at which time they'll likely scream for Yanqui help/protection. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-11-17 11:07:40 AM |
| #5 rjswartz---that is the right idea. I have thought about it for a long time, but how can it be done? It seems like corruption is part of the culture, so how can the cycle be broken? And that culture is being exported to the US through many illegal aliens. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-11-17 11:00:53 AM |
| #4 We need to push for more reform in Mexico. If they can finally rise up to industrialized status they can take over responsibility for Latin America. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2004-11-17 10:36:59 AM |
| #3 maybe we really do need a wall. With so much modern technology available, I fail to see how increasing the flow of legal workers and decreasing the flow illegal workers could not be achieved. |
| Posted by: 2b 2004-11-17 9:59:03 AM |
| #2 Build...wall...now. |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2004-11-17 9:35:33 AM |
| #1 [N]ot all nations in the hemisphere shared Washington’s definition of terrorism, which focuses on Islamic extremists like Al Qaeda. Assholes. Like they won't ever be on the target list. |
| Posted by: beer_me 2004-11-17 3:59:24 AM |