Redstate

and come up in the world...a middle class would do wonders for that country...it could be a shining country over the border if it's leaders were not so corrupt.

Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion

Tim Schieferecke

on a gun battle today right across the border...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5675758.html

Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion

Tim Schieferecke

And Rightly So!

The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!

Tim Schieferecke

World's dumbest criminals.

Guy robbed a store with a duct tape mask, got caught with the mask made by wrapping fresh tape all over his head. They showed a before and after along with a guy going "No I'm not the duct tape bandit...no not me."

Just thinking about pulling that stuff off and the stupidity of criminals makes my head hurt.

______________________________________
Proud member of the Barry Goldwater wing of the party !

Tim, I think my post stands. Homeland security is about prioritizing risks. Those who place emphasize guarding the Mexican border at the expense of worthier goals are doing us a disservice. Such worthier goals include: securing our ports (which are, by the bye, the No. 1 route for a suitcase bomb); gathering intelligence; protecting our skies; stabilizing Afghanistan; watching Pakistan; and winning in Iraq.

One further comment:

I'll grant you this, it's easier for a terrorist to physically enter the US via Canada or the EU, but you miss the importance of the Mexican border by a country mile. When someone comes in from the EU, they HAVE TO go through Customs.

The US-Canada border was, last I checked, the longest undefended border in the world. There are thousands of miles of borderlands that are simply empty. There is literally nothing there, no customs presence to speak of, not even much of a population.

The border with Mexico is shorter, much better protected, and has a much larger population/law enforcement presence.

The focus on Mexico is wholly misplaced. And Lou Dobbs is an idiot.

For we have a peculiar power of thinking before we act, and of acting, too, whereas other men are courageous from ignorance but hesitate upon reflection.

that is actively involved with terror groups and is passionately pursuing WMDs to use against the US and who has easy access through a Canadian safe corridor? Canadian police and security is heads and tails better than the Mexican Federales. Venezuela under Chavez actively courts Iran and their war by proxy pawns Hezbollah. If money is not an object there is absolutely nothing standing in your way to gaining access to our southern border. Hell, if you pay the policia there enough, they'll even bring it across the border for you. READ THE REPORT!
Tim Schieferecke

It is over 2000 miles from Caracas to Mexico City - that's close geographic proximity? Your original post came across as paranoid enough but this is just absurd. Miami is a lot closer to them than the Mexican border.

a guaranteed safe passage across Mexico? Let's see, US Coastguard vs a wide open 1800 miles of Desert guarded by a Border Patrol paralyzed by weak leadership at its top echelons. I'll take Mexico as the more dangerous for 2000 Alex.
Tim Schieferecke

Yeah, traveling through the jungle, mountains and desert from venezuela to mexico is a sinch with nuke in tow... I'm going to go with the direct sea route as the much more likely risk.

Um, your argument falls apart when that's included. Now focus, I asked if there was a country in close proximity to Canada that could gain safe passage across said Canada to carry out acts of terrorism. It was core to my argument. Thanks for leaving it out. Not!
Tim Schieferecke

Do you have any idea how easy it is for Russian terrorists to traverse the northern ice undetected into Canada and hten head straight for our ungaurded border - it's time to get worried

with the Mexican Policia. You are in error. Whole Mexican police and military units are corrupt. Have you ever heard of the Zetas? While Canada has problems, their police and military are far superior both technically and morally to that of the Mexicans. Because of this, things can happen in a vacuum in Mexico. Things cannot happen in Canada to anywhere near the same degree. (Spelled out s l o w l y, they have a much better chance of being stopped in Canada). Why do you keep leaving the discrepency between Canadian and Mexican police and military forces out of your equation? As to jungles, deserts and swamps OH MY, geographic obstacles are beneficial to terrorists when you factor in police and military corruption. Afghanistan under Soviet occupation is a perfect example. The rough terrain coupled with no effective law and order favored the Afghanis. You really should think your retorts through a little harder and focus on the totality of the argument.
Tim Schieferecke

Yeah, the Canada line was sarcastic - I'm given my replies exactly the amount of thought your paranoia deserves.

Seriously, Venezuelan guerillas are not traversing thousands of miles of jungle to cross the mexican border - no worries there at all. Islamic terrorists are getting in off of planes - far more convinient than flying into mexico city and sneaking across the border - have you ever been to that airport its a pain.

Hell, if you pay the policia there enough, they'll even bring it across the border for you. READ THE REPORT!

Tim, I've read the report. I'm familiar with the situation in Neuvo Laredo and the turf battles being waged between and among Mexican gangs. No one disputes that law enforcement needs to be supported in those regions; nor does anyone dispute that a sizable portion of the Federales stationed along the border are corrupt (to say nothing of the local police).*

I will say again: Securing the ports of Los Angeles, Miami, and New York/New Jersey are, without question, much more important in terms of defending against a threat from AQ or like-minded militants. Improving our intelligence capabilities, particularly in Pakistan and the EU, is also much more important in terms of defending against a threat from AQ or like-minded militants. Stabilizing Afghanistan and Iraq are much more important in terms of defending against a threat from AQ or like-minded militants.

And again: if you prioritize a concern about AQ-infiltrating-via-Mexico over any of these the foregoing concerns, your priorities are not rational.

*I frankly find the report to be remarkably slight, given that all the facts in it are available from other sources. Only its breathless tone is new.

For we have a peculiar power of thinking before we act, and of acting, too, whereas other men are courageous from ignorance but hesitate upon reflection.

We have two infiltration models. One is hypothetical (the ports), one is done every day (the southern border). And yet we need to put priority on the hypothetical one? Come on.

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"If we want to take this party back, and I think we can someday, let’s get to work." – Barry Goldwater

But the infiltration model of choice for terrorists in this country has been legally crossing the border either via plane or in several cases via Canada. No doubt we have a border issue in the south but it is not the biggest threat to national security.

So that's not the same thing at all.

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A terrorist organization that is sophistocated enough to plan significant attacks against the US -- e.g., AQ -- is also sophistocated enough to open up a couple front companies with sleepers and ship the weapons or weapons components on a run-of-the-mill cargo container on a run-of-the-mill cargo ship.

It'd be far riskier for the same organization to trust MX gangs, federales, and/or coyotes to do the same job.

For we have a peculiar power of thinking before we act, and of acting, too, whereas other men are courageous from ignorance but hesitate upon reflection.

You can pay gangs under the table. Creating corporations tends to require some more traditional financing at some point, and that can then be traced by our anti-terror finance operations.

Hey, I know: Let's just secure both to the fullest. Who started this talk of only doing one or the other to begin with? Wasn't it Pelosi?

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our southern border. I'm pretty sure there are advanced systems in all of our ports to go along with the multiple layers of security. You can physically enter the US much easier as a terrorist by plane, but it's much harder to sneak a suitcase nuke in through a port or a air terminal at the same time. The southern border is the easiest place to accomplish this. Just as our leaving Iraq would cause a power vaccuum there, there already exists a significant law and order vaccuum on our southern border. Evil can only grow where it is left unchecked. The southern border is an anarchist's paradise.
Tim Schieferecke

There are the stories going around of a FARC-Hezbollah axis. I really don't think it's a stretch that Iran-backed groups might work with gangs further north.

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"If we want to take this party back, and I think we can someday, let’s get to work." – Barry Goldwater

I think I'll take the duct tape off of my head now and let those that willfully redact prima facie FACTS that are right in front of them believe whatever they want to believe. Have a great weekend! By the way to all you Tar Heels, Rock! Chalk! Jayhawk!

Tim Schieferecke