Terrorists Infiltrating the Mexican Border?

Imagine that?

Douglas Jehl, writing for the New York Times, published an article entitled U.S. Aides Cite Worry on Qaeda Infiltration From Mexico (16 Feb 05). The report includes Porter Goss' (CIA Director) testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Goss says,

"It may only be a matter of time before Al Qaeda or another group attempts to use chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons..."

Jehl sums up other testimony,

Intelligence that "strongly suggests" that Al Qaeda operatives have considered using the Mexican border as an entry point was cited in written testimony by Adm. James M. Loy, the deputy secretary of homeland security. But he wrote that there was "currently no conclusive evidence" that this had succeeded.

And,

In his written testimony, Admiral Loy cited recent information from investigations and detentions as the basis for his concern about the Mexican border. He added, "Several Al Qaeda leaders believe operatives can pay their way into the country through Mexico and also believe illegal entry is more advantageous than legal entry for operational security reasons."

This isn't rocket science. The Mexican border has always been porous. When I lived in San Diego, we used to go to the parking lot at the border just for entertainment. Hundreds of Mexicans waited on the Tijuana side of the drainage culvert until it got dark. Then as if on cue, they would all rush the border fence and run into the American side. We watched as they entered through the fence and sprinted across the parking lot. A few US Border Patrol guys would try to pursue them, but there were too many to capture. It was that easy.

Same thing happens in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas every day. There are hundreds of miles of border where they can just stroll across. I even heard stories about tunnels going under the border that are capable of handling large trucks. I heard a statistic that said only 10 percent of the drugs that cross the border are captured. That's pretty good odds. Imagine if only one-out-of-ten Russian "suitcase nukes" were captured as Al Qaeda operatives smuggled them across.

Islamic Terrorists are fully capable of doing the same thing as peace loving Mexicans. They do it all the time going into Iraq from Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iran. They do it into Afghanistan from Pakistan and Iran. From Georgia into Chechnya. From Tunisia and Morocco into Italy and Greece. Hmmm...do we see a methodology emerging? I guess maybe there might be a problem here worth addressing, don't you?

I am a little baffled why Mr. Jehl reported this information, because it seems so obvious. Bill O'Reilly has been screaming about this on his show for a long time now. Is Congress finally going to do something about this? Adding a few new Border Patrol agents is not the answer; it's like putting a band-aid on a sucking chest wound. It needs attention immediately. We wait at our own peril.