A Warning Too Late

Reports of Islamic items being found along the border with Mexico started surfacing a few years ago. It was speculated early on that radicalized Islamic terrorists could be entering the United States along with other illegal immigrants.

The result in part was the rise of the Minuteman Movement. The movement consisted of concerned ranchers and citizens along the border that felt the US government was not doing enough to address the issue of illegal immigrants.

Now DHS is alerting the public to this threat. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you can smuggle illegal immigrants in through the border, smuggling a terrorist isn't any more of a challenge.

We've known for sometime that drugs and weapons are also illegally smuggled into this country through the border. It isn't much of stretch to assume terrorist weapons are also being smuggled in. I hesitate to use the term "weapons of mass destruction" as I think it diverts our attention from the fact the choice of weapon isn't as important as how well the attack is planned and executed.

The attempted bombing in Times Square and the attack in Mumbai are a study in contrasts. Times Square used a WMD but it was poorly executed and was detected and neutralized before anyone was hurt. Mumbai on the other hand used a well coordinated attack of trained rifleman and bombs in 2008 to kill 173 people and injure 308. Mumbai did not really use a WMD but the effects were on par with the bombings in Madrid in 2004 (193 killed) and London in 2005 (93 killed, 350 injured)

The article goes on to point out the connection between drugs and terrorists. Why is this news? The Soviet Union was the primary funding source for terrorists groups during the latter part of the 20th Century. Terrorists group were then primarily aligned along political ideology such as Marxism or Communism making them a potential weapon for the Soviet Union to use against the Democratic West especially the United States.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, the funding source for these politically aligned groups also collapsed. Around the same time, Pam Am Flight 103 was blown up over the skies of Lockerbie, Scotland. The event signaled the beginnings of terrorist groups aligned with radical Islam. It would be until 1993 and the first bombing of the World Trade Center before the United States public would recognize this new threat.

Terrorist groups formed around radical Islamic beliefs benefit from being primarily based in the Middle East. They do not need a sponsoring super power such as the former Soviet Union to get financial backing. Most members of these new terrorist groups can get funding through the sale of oil. Osama bin Laden was an independently wealthy Saudi before he became the world's most famous terrorist.

However, not all groups are based in the Middle East or receive funding through oil. These groups turn to drug cartels which have as much money, if perhaps not even more, than the oil cartels.

Countries such as Colombia and Afghanistan generate huge profits through the sale of illegal drugs. In turn, many of the local populace in these countries are hostile or at least unsympathetic to the United States.

In much of South and Central America, the United States is blamed or supporting right wing regimes which often resorted to torture to maintain power. The right wing regimes were in-turn viewed as puppets of American colonialism in the guise of the United Fruit Company.

The resentment for atrocities committed by former colonies generates support amongst the locals for drug cartels and terrorists groups. None of this though is a new phenomena, any student of political science or international affairs knows this.

Our government seems to be behind the power curve again. We need to stop worrying about building up the border. We need to finding out who is already here. Of course this opens up a very nasty potential for the government to become even more intrusive into the lives of US citizens.


FOXNews.com - Feds Issue Terror Watch for the Texas/Mexico Border

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