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From West Africa, it is a conceivable hop across the water to Brazil, who's new president Lula is a communist aligned with Chavez and Castro, and other unsavory characters.

It's no tough stretch of the imagination to see them ferrying anything across from Africa and either smuggling it or them up the illegal immigrant road by land across our southern border or by air, following Barry Seal's old routes, maybe even into Mena, Arkansas.

South America is full of marxists and terrorists and drug lords who might be more than willing to help AQ hit us or smuggle into our country.

At least the borders are closed tight.< /caustic sarcasm>

Private Planes at Risk
General Aviation Airfields Still Lack Tightened Security

By Brian Ross

Sept. 3 — One year after 19 people hijacked airplanes, flying them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, security has not been improved at the country's small general aviation airports, an ABCNEWS investigation has found.

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Thousands of planes at hundreds of airports are still vulnerable to being stolen or hijacked.
John McClure's single engine Cessna plane was stolen on July 3 from an unguarded field in Tahoe, Calif., and hasn't been seen since.

"We got here little after 3 (p.m.), we drove in," recalled McClure, "and I thought, 'Where's my plane?'"

McClure's plane was one of seven planes stolen from small American airfields this year — and the second this summer. Under a new policy, the theft is being reported to the Secret Service and investigated by the FBI.

The FBI issued a nationwide alert the same day McClure's plane was stolen, warning that with improved security at large airports, "terrorists may choose to rent or steal general aviation aircraft housed at small airports with little or no security."

"I think we're finally getting to the point where we know that stolen airplanes are a serious problem in this country, as far as the government's concerned," said Bob Collins, the president of the Aviation Crime Prevention Institute. "Where in the past, the FBI couldn't become involved unless it was above a certain value. Now that's changed.

"All planes have become targets," he added.

Weak Link

"Unfortunately, we have disclosed the possibility of terrorists looking at our weakest link. When you have tens of thousands of aircrafts sitting on numerous airfields and general aviation facilities around the country, we are at risk," Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., the chairman of Congress' Subcommittee on Aviation, told ABCNEWS.

Even so, as Terry Florie discovered when his single engine Cessna plane was stolen from an Augusta, Ga., field in June, security around private aircraft has not been upgraded since Sept. 11.

"It generally shuts down around dark and opens back up around 7 the next morning," said Florie. "So generally there's nobody here between dark and about 7 a.m."

Security is much the same at small fields across the country. And despite the threat, the Federal Aviation Administration continues to issue pilot's licenses without photos, making for easy access to airplanes that pilots say would take no more than a minute or two to steal.

"You basically pick a lock to get into the plane, hotwire it and start it up and away you go," explained McClure. "The hardest part you need to know is how to fly it."

Planes Have Potential to be Damaging

The damage from a single-engine suicide plane attack would not likely be catastrophic. There was little structural damage when a 15-year-old student pilot flew his plane into a Tampa office building, killing himself, last January.

But if a plane were loaded with explosives or chemicals, officials say it could still make a powerful political statement aimed at a symbolic target.

"One of my fears is that they'll use one of these for a spectacular event against a large population centered at a sporting event or some other attraction," said Mica. "And that's a real concern for me."

While officials suspect many of the stolen planes are flown to Mexico and chopped up for parts, officials are well aware these are just the kinds of planes the September hijackers trained on and had initially planned to use in their suicide attacks.

South America is full of marxists and terrorists and drug lords who might be more than willing to help AQ hit us or smuggle into our country.

So why would they want to destroy their best customers?