Article

2005-03-01 Home Front: WoT

CIA Director Porter Goss' warning that al Qaeda might try to use "chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons" in his Feb. 17 testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee overshadowed a more urgent intelligence warning. At the same hearing, Vice Admiral James Loy, deputy secretary of Homeland Security, testified that al Qaeda has changed tactics for inserting terrorist teams into the United States.

According to Adm. Loy, al Qaeda plans to use Mexico's professional people smugglers — known as coyotes — to infiltrate terrorists across our southern border. Adm. Loy's information is based on recent interrogations and has been confirmed by ongoing counterterrorist operations.

This story ought to have led the news on every network. But Adm. Loy's Mexican bombshell didn't generate widespread media coverage because it was buried in written testimony instead of being delivered in telegenic soundbites. Al Qaeda's departure from its previous modus operandi of using terrorists with valid documents (the majority of September 11 hijackers fit into this category) means the organization intends to attack us using new methods for which we are unprepared.

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Adm. Loy attributes al Qaeda's interest in using Mexico as a springboard to the conclusion by al Qaeda's leaders that their "operational security" will be enhanced. They are right. Under current conditions, terrorists can easily enter the United States undetected in the stream of hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who cross from Mexico annually.

At present, the United States has no defense against this contingency. Washington's decades-long policy of benign neglect of illegal immigration has spawned a global infrastructure of underworld industries to facilitate the flow of undocumented aliens.

This underground pipeline originates in countries as far away as China, Brazil and Nigeria, where professional smugglers charge thousands of dollars to transport aliens to the United States. Many of these smuggling networks converge in Mexico, where coyotes intimately familiar with the gaps in our security take over the task of transporting aliens beyond the border into our cities. Aliens who prefer can travel to Mexico's border towns and hire their own coyotes as guides for the final passage. To assist them, the Mexican Foreign Ministry has prepared a handbook for illegal aliens.

Once inside the United States, newly arrived migrants are directed to forgers who create phony documentation, including Social Security cards and birth certificates. These documents satisfy employer requirements and, in most states, are more than sufficient to obtain a driver's license. Some states will knowingly license undocumented aliens. Illegal aliens can also obtain credit cards from sub-prime lenders. With a driver's license and a credit card, an alien can open a bank account, lease a safehouse, rent a car, buy weapons, or purchase an airline ticket for use in a suicide mission.

Three-and-a-half years after September 11, we have not begun to address the security issues posed by an internal community of illegal aliens believed to number between 8 and 10 million. Last month, the House of Representatives made a start by passing H.R. 418, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner's bill to tighten standards for driver's licenses and improve physical security on the border.

H.R. 418 limits the issuance of licenses to those legally in the country or with pending visa and asylum applications. Licenses cannot remain valid for periods of time that exceed the applicant's legal stay in the United States. Citizens, residents, and legal aliens will have to submit documentation before being licensed. Visa status will be verified through federal databases, and those who make or issue licenses will have to get security clearances. After a three-year phase-in, identification from states that don't meet the federal standards will no longer be valid ID for federal transactions. Residents of laggard states won't be able to board aircraft or pass an instant background check for gun purchases using their driver's license.

These are reasonable precautions, given Adm. Loy's warning about al Qaeda's change of tactics. But they won't take effect unless the Senate acts, and even then it will be years before the measures are implemented. If Mr. Goss' warnings about al Qaeda attacks using weapons of mass destruction are right, we can't afford to lose time getting control over the illegal immigration pipeline into and inside our country and if Mr. Goss believes what he told the Senate Intelligence Committee, perhaps the CIA should take covert action to disrupt alien smuggling networks and corral the coyotes before they deliver the next band of al Qaeda killers to our doorsteps.

Posted by Dan Darling 2005-03-01 1:00:59 AM|| || Front Page|| [13 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Such a no-brainer. The fact that this is even under discussion shows how close we are to losing the WOT.

Posted by Rex Mundi 2005-03-01 1:19:42 AM|| 2005-03-01 1:19:42 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 And that happens it'll be all due to PC, and the desire for cheap labor.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-03-01 1:21:45 AM|| 2005-03-01 1:21:45 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Let's see if Evita starts screaming from the rooftops about this.

Posted by anonymous2u 2005-03-01 1:22:50 AM|| 2005-03-01 1:22:50 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 The headline could use some editing:
Close the Mexican border ~~to terrorists~~

Posted by jackal 2005-03-01 7:28:56 AM|| [http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2005-03-01 7:28:56 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 looking at the bright side, Al-Q may be the catalyst that helps us to finally get a realistic grip on the 10,000 that daily cross our borders.

Posted by 2b 2005-03-01 7:39:17 AM|| 2005-03-01 7:39:17 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Even then, 2b, that's so damn sad ...

Posted by Omurong Spung8918 2005-03-01 10:15:22 AM|| 2005-03-01 10:15:22 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Oh, it is so aggravating when they try to tie the illegal immigrant problem, which has been argued continuously since the 1920s, with the "terrorists crossing our border" problem, which is "today, and right now". Putting the two together *guarantees* that our border will remain porous to terrorists! This is idiotic! Instead, we should pay a tiny amount of money to Mexicans citizens to inform on non-Mexicans trying to sneak across. America can then continue with its never-ending arguments about Mexican illegals. And no, I will tell you right now that you CANNOT close that border with anything short of 3 DIVISIONS of soldiers, at an obscene cost, perhaps $3 Billion dollars a MONTH. So, as emotionally gratifying as it might be to scream and wail, you must use some other means to solve a whole bunch of problems, not one big, ugly simple solution that won't work.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-03-01 10:30:18 AM|| 2005-03-01 10:30:18 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 looking at the bright side, Al-Q may be the catalyst that helps us to finally get a realistic grip on the 10,000 that daily cross our borders.

Not likely. As long as GWB has the idea in his head that Mexico is spme sort of partner and not a parasite, little will change on his watch. That is, until the next attack is traced back to an infiltration from Mexico, in which case he will be in really deep shit if it happens while he's still in office.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-03-01 10:34:49 AM|| 2005-03-01 10:34:49 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 I respectfully disgree, Moose. Strategy: Fences at the major points of entry, shift to the wide open desert where sensors can track and your numbers are bogus. Close the friggin border and tell Mexico to clean up at home, not shuffle herds here to send dollars home. Defeatist crap like yours we don't need. Resolve and a iron fist with our "ally" Mexico? We do need

Posted by Frank G 2005-03-01 10:51:37 AM|| 2005-03-01 10:51:37 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Even then, 2b, that's so damn sad ... when you put it that way, yeah..you are right. That is really sad.

Anymoose there is no reason it has to be all or nothing. We can do both - short term solutions that work for catching terrorists today while continuing to work toward a long term solution for the overall program. I don't think Bush doesn't get it - I just think he's smart enough not to bite off something he knows he'd choke on.

Posted by 2b 2005-03-01 11:48:33 AM|| 2005-03-01 11:48:33 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Fences at the major points of entry, shift to the wide open desert where sensors can track and your numbers are bogus.

I would support this sort of action, provided that enough BP officers are stationed in strategic areas to allow them to respond quickly to any detections with little possibility of overstretching, and most importantly, that relief stations (water and whatnot) are dismantled and subsequently PROHIBITED from being set up anywhere within a thirty mile area of the border.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-03-01 4:50:30 PM|| 2005-03-01 4:50:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Agreed, BAR and Mexico has to pay for encouraging the illegals

Posted by Frank G 2005-03-01 4:54:04 PM|| 2005-03-01 4:54:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 When we deport people we should send them to Cancun.

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-03-01 4:56:20 PM|| 2005-03-01 4:56:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 ..and Mexico has to pay for encouraging the illegals

Maybe the feds should slap a surcharge on all those wire transfers to Mexico, seeing as how a lot of the major banks are trying to make the procedure easier...

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-03-01 10:51:21 PM|| 2005-03-01 10:51:21 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 We can not close the border just from our side alone.There needs to be an effort from the Mexican side.But that won't happen,because the Mexican government is tied up trying to put down the drug cartels.Simple enough to understand that much,in my mind.

Posted by crazyhorse 2005-03-01 10:59:20 PM|| 2005-03-01 10:59:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 Crazyhorse, No the Mexican Government is being very well PAID by the drug cartels to keep the border open on their side.

Posted by CrazyFool 2005-03-01 11:47:51 PM|| 2005-03-01 11:47:51 PM|| Front Page Top

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