In other news, the Hallowe'en horror show continues. I received this e-mail yesterday from my U.S. Representative. Notice the subtle appeal to racism, as most Americans presumably couldn't distinquish a "Mexican" from an "Arab" (because for reasons unstated, Hezbollah is not trying to sneak "terrorists" into Canada. I especially love the idea of a pipe bomb designed to "spread the virtues of Hezbollah by pamphlet upon explosion." Huh? And, of course, the obligatory assault on the "liberal media".)
Dear District 7 Neighbor:
In case you missed it, this op-ed piece ran in Saturday's Houston Chronicle. The author is a former White House and Defense Department official who confirms the serious security threat that Venezuela and its President, Hugo Chavez, pose to our southern border. I was mocked by the Chronicle Editorial Board and Chronicle columnist Rick Casey for discussing this threat, but it will not deter my efforts to send money to the border sheriffs to secure our borders.
Want a Scary Read? Try Report on Border Security
Gaping Holes are Allowing Terrorists Unimpeded Entry
By Douglas MacKinnon
While much of the national mainstream media continue to focus on "he said, she said" political stories, an exponentially more serious subject is escaping their notice. It's a story that has a direct impact on Texas and involves the national security of the United States.
U.S. Rep. Michael T. McCaul, R-Austin, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security - Subcommittee on Investigations, has released a report titled "Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border." If you want to experience real terror, then skip the latest horror movie playing at your local cineplex and read this report.
Contrary to what some Republicans, Democrats or the press may state or believe, the national security of our country is not a partisan issue. If we don't work together as Americans to defeat terrorism and close the gaping holes at our borders, then we will all bear some responsibility should the worst happen and tens of thousands of our fellow citizens are killed in a terrorist attack. This alarming report underscores that threat and possibility.
Aside from confirming that heavily armed Mexican drug cartels with military-grade ordnance control all to the south of our borders and have direct control over every single illegal person, weapon or narcotic that enters our nation, the report also affirms something much more sinister: Terrorists from Islamic organizations have and continue to enter our country through our southern flank.
Among its numerous sobering details of infiltration of known terrorists into our nation, are these findings: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations have revealed that aliens were smuggled from the Middle East to staging areas in Central and South America, before being smuggled illegally into the United States. That members of Hezbollah have already entered the United States across the Southwest border.
Let's pause a moment here to take in that little newsflash. Members of Hezbollah have already infiltrated the United States. And finally, the report stresses that U.S. military and intelligence officials believe that Venezuela is emerging as a potential hub of terrorism in the Western Hemisphere.
While Venezuelan strongman and madman Hugo Chavez just embarrassingly lost his bid to buy his way onto the United Nations Security Council, this report validates and reiterates that not only is Chavez not going away, but that he intends to franchise his revolution and Islamic terrorism throughout the Western Hemisphere with the direct goal of punishing the United States of America.
The report further states that Venezuela is providing support - including identity documents - that could prove useful to radical Islamic groups. The Chavez government has issued thousands of cedulas - the equivalent of U.S. Social Security cards - to a number of suspect nations, including Middle Eastern nations - that host foreign terrorist organizations.
A vivid example of this is that several Pakistani nationals were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border with fraudulent Venezuelan documents. Whether the Chavez government directly gave the Pakistanis the documents or they obtained them elsewhere is still not certain. What is not a question, is that they had them and were trying to enter the United States illegally. To those who pay attention, Hugo Chavez makes no secret of his intentions. As he said on Al Jazeera television, "I am on the offensive because attack is the best form of defense. We are waging an offensive battle."
The report went on to stress that in response to the Chavez threat and others, a number of U.S. officials are alarmed that terrorism is seen chiefly as a Middle East problem and that the U.S. must look south to protect itself. As an aside, two pipe bombs were just found at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. These were apparently designed to spread the virtues of Hezbollah by pamphlet upon explosion.
While the report is chilling in its warning, there is still debate on how best to respond to its findings. Even among local members of Congress. U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, seems to be of the mind-set that we need to respond directly and forcefully to these incursions along our border. While Rep. McCaul, the author of the report, also wants the U.S. and Mexican governments to take immediate action, he seems to want to dot every "i" and cross every "t," before making categorical charges.
Which man is right in his response to this frightening report? Both, if they get more of their fellow politicians and government officials to pay attention to this verifiable and growing danger.
It's the silly season in terms of the midterm election, but national security belongs to no party. Al-Qaida and its imitators dream about ways to infiltrate our nation. This report says they may have found the door. As Americans, we need to work together to seal it, or suffer the consequences.
MacKinnon was press secretary to former Sen. Bob Dole. He is also a former White House and Pentagon official and author of the forthcoming novel "America's Last Days."
This, by the way, is the same Hugo Chavez the US tried to depose at least once, and who has promised, again, to sell fuel oil as cheaply as possible to residents of Maine, and who also, if memory serves, offered money and aid to New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.
Clearly the man has no reason not to cooperate with this government, and knows no bounds in his devious attempts to undermine the Bush Administration and the US government. Aside from that, I'm sure this House report is as factual as the case made by Colin Powell for WMD in Iraq.
Posted by Rmj at 2:43 PM
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