According to this article from Italy’s La Stampa, not only has Jihad moved out of the Middle East; it has moved closer to the U.S.’ back door.
Here’s the thrust of the story.
Although the first alarm from the Pentagon arose in 2004, the year 2007 signaled an escalation of Muslim penetration in Latin America that for the most part centers on the privileged relations between Caracas and Tehran. The danger comes from the converging of interests among drug-dealers and Islamic terrorists which, mirroring a model of the existing alliance between similar operatives in Afghanistan, would be capable of giving life to a network capable of sustaining itself and committing devastating attacks against the shared American enemy.
The specifics are beyond disconcerting:
The Caracas airport has become a free port-of-passage for Islamic extremists thanks to the fact that the recent agreement on free movement of people negotiated with Tehran does not require arrivals from Iran to possess entrance visas anymore; and from 2002 to 2005 Venezuelan police detained without cause dissident Iranian journalist Manuchehr Honarmand, who is now in exile in the Netherlands.
About 2000 illegal immigrants enter this country a day. About 500 Mexicans settle permanently and illegally daily in the U.S. If I were an Iranian terrorist, I’d just follow them.
In the history of the civilized world, borders have always been about security. When did this stop? What is the privileged status of the U.S.’s southern border that none of the huge U.S. defense capacity is used to defend it? It seems absurd to be talking about building “a fence” there – essentially a technology as old as man – when every other security threat identified by the U.S. is met with the most expensive and smartest technology on the planet? The dissonance is simultaneously inconsistent and hypocritical. Worst, if we truly are threatened by Islamic terrorism, it is dangerous. Are we?
Read “Jihad in South America” on Watching America.com for a reality-jolt.
Robin Koerner is a British-born citizen of the USA, who currently serves as Academic Dean of the John Locke Institute. He holds graduate degrees in both Physics and the Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge (U.K.). He is also the founder of WatchingAmerica.com, an organization of over 100 volunteers that translates and posts in English views about the USA from all over the world.
Robin may be best known for having coined the term “Blue Republican” to refer to liberals and independents who joined the GOP to support Ron Paul’s bid for the presidency in 2012 (and, in so doing, launching the largest coalition that existed for that candidate).
Robin’s current work as a trainer and a consultant, and his book If You Can Keep It , focus on overcoming distrust and bridging ideological division to improve politics and lives. His current project, Humilitarian, promotes humility and civility as a basis for improved political discourse and outcomes.