The al Qaeda Railroad
Could this be a prelude to 9/11's sequel?
Does it even need to be asked how supposedly impoverished "Middle Eastern individuals" could possibly afford to pony up twenty-five grand to sneak into our country? Or how neatly this dovetails with the elevated terrorist "chatter" and the escalating al Qaeda boasts of new attacks inside the U.S.?
There's an old adage that President Bush should have taken to heart after 9/11: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." In an age of global apocalyptic assymmetrical war against "transnational entities," control of one's borders would seem to be one of the first orders of business of homeland security and national defense. Instead, Dubya has left the borders wide open, done nothing to fortify them, and has squandered every last bit of political capital he had left on a fresh (and blessedly defeated) amnesty bill.
I've always believed that if we were hit big again during Bush's presidency, the public reaction wouldn't be to rally around him like it was the first time, but rather that he would get the blame. Stories like this one show that if that does happen, the blame will be far from unearned.
[h/t: the Admiral]
The FBI is investigating an alleged human smuggling operation based in Chaparral, NM, that agents say is bringing "Iraqis and other Middle Eastern" individuals across the Rio Grande from Mexico.
An FBI intelligence report distributed by the Washington, D.C. Joint Terrorism Task Force, obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com, says the illegal ring has been bringing Iraqis across the border illegally for more than a year. ...
The FBI report, issued last week, says the smuggling organization "used to smuggle Mexicans, but decided to smuggle Iraqi or other Middle Eastern individuals because it was more lucrative." Each individual would be charged a fee of $20,000 to $25,000, according to the report.
The people to be smuggled would "gather at a house on the Mexican side of the border" and then cross the Rio Grande into the U.S., the report says.
"Unidentified individuals would then transport them to train stations in El Paso, Texas or Belen, New Mexico," according to the FBI document.
Does it even need to be asked how supposedly impoverished "Middle Eastern individuals" could possibly afford to pony up twenty-five grand to sneak into our country? Or how neatly this dovetails with the elevated terrorist "chatter" and the escalating al Qaeda boasts of new attacks inside the U.S.?
There's an old adage that President Bush should have taken to heart after 9/11: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." In an age of global apocalyptic assymmetrical war against "transnational entities," control of one's borders would seem to be one of the first orders of business of homeland security and national defense. Instead, Dubya has left the borders wide open, done nothing to fortify them, and has squandered every last bit of political capital he had left on a fresh (and blessedly defeated) amnesty bill.
I've always believed that if we were hit big again during Bush's presidency, the public reaction wouldn't be to rally around him like it was the first time, but rather that he would get the blame. Stories like this one show that if that does happen, the blame will be far from unearned.
[h/t: the Admiral]
posted by JASmius at 7:42 PM
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