Posted on 12/30/2002 8:36:21 PM PST by Pokey78
U.S. Fears Terrorists at Sea; Tracking Ships Is Difficult
U.S. intelligence officials have identified approximately 15 cargo freighters around the world that they believe are controlled by al Qaeda or could be used by the terrorist network to ferry operatives, bombs, money or commodities over the high seas, government officials said.
American spy agencies track some of the suspicious ships by satellites or surveillance planes and with the help of allied navies or informants in overseas ports. But they have occasionally lost track of the vessels, which are continuously given new fictitious names, repainted or re-registered using invented corporate owners, all while plying the oceans.
As they scramble to keep tabs on the largely unregulated and secretive global maritime industry, U.S. officials have no end of worries about how nautical terrorists could attack U.S. or allied ports or vessels, officials said. They cite such scenarios as al Qaeda dispatching an explosives-packed speedboat to blow a hole in the hull of a luxury cruise ship sailing the Caribbean Sea or having terrorists posing as crewmen commandeer a freighter carrying dangerous chemicals and slam it into a harbor.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Speaking of being so intent at deriding my posts that you won't even consider the content did you pick up ANY of the MANY times I advocated using the military on our borders? I said this because INS is so politically compromised and inept (agree with you there) that the only viable option left at this point for securing our borders is the military. For heavens sakes give those Straw Men a rest.
I just don't think they are as high a priority right now, as say, accelerating the production of the PAC-3 anti-air/missile missile, or deploying to Iraq or bolstering the Pacific theater.
Funny how our government can find many additional billions for Farming Subsidies and the Education Dept (which is as much of a joke as the INS) not to mention the many billions they annually squander on protecting OTHER nations borders yet somehow cant come up with the needed resources for the protection of our borders. Interesting. No, I dont think that there is a critical tradeoff between border security costs and the increased production of certain weapons program. I think that the security of our borders and immigration law enforcement is just not in the agenda of this WH or Congress.
The BP bureaucrats need to be reorganized and whipped into shape first before increasing their responsibilities and funding whether you hate Bush or not.
You seem bent on changing the subject from using the military on the borders to the false dilemma of needing to wait months on end (years?) for the INS to get fixed. Again, Im not advocating that. I want to see the military on the borders NOW. You can drop the shtick about the INS.
However, since Rhine seems real interested in philosophy, try this:
You claim that some additional manpower on the border is beneficial to reduction in illegal immigration. Ok. And you seem to believe that all additional reductions in immigration will to some extent increase security. Ok. Therefore, you insist to increase security, we MUST add additional manpower to the border.
Thats your heavily modified re-wording of my arguments. How about taking that symbolic logic and applying it my real arguments
for once. In the meantime, give some water to those Straw Men of yours, they have earned it.
How can terrorist attacks increase independently of border security?
You do understand that millions of Palestinians live in Israeli occupied territories don't you?
"...additional troops..."???
Are you implying that there are troops on the borders, now?
"...net increase in security..."?
Name one instance in history where troops on the borders or a wall didn't provide a "net increase in security." No, that measure alone won't provide a 100% level of security, but certainly a "net increase".
In another one of your ludicrous assertions you claim that the only reason that South Korea's northern border is securred are the 50,000 or so American troops and 550,000 South Korean troops that are on the border.
It takes only a fraction of those troops to actually secure that border. The other 95% of those troops are there because the border guards alone would be a mere speed-bump to the North Korean army, if they attacked.
North Korea has 70,000 special forces, 'shock troops' alone plus 100's of thousands of regular army poised at the border.
We don't face anything like that on our northern or southern borders. You're reading and repeating some tired, well-worn and extremely well-refuted and discredited Libertarian rhetoric.
Approximately 5,000 illegal aliens comprised of pregnant women, male and female job or welfare seekers, drug smugglers, terrorists, members of organized crime families, gang-bangers, the piss-ant Mexican military and agents of other foreign governments cross our borders everyday away from the official checkpoints.
The Bush administration is insane to let this continue.
"...limited resources..."?
What limited resources? These illegal aliens will each cost the U.S. Taxpayers $55,000 each over their lifetimes according to the CIS. The Libertarian CATO Institute puts that number around $89,000 each, I believe.
Illegal immigration costs us an estimated $27 billion to $72 billion each year depending on who you ask and what costs they include in the estimates.
Enforce all the laws presently on the books and make these illegal immigrants deport themselves.
Rush the challenge to the Liberal, erroneous interpretation of the 14th Amendment that's in the courts, now to the Supreme Court. Send all of these illegal aliens and their illegal 'anchor babies' home where they belong.
Do these things and there'll be more than enough money for border security even if we never touch a dime of the money that's been squandered on the other programs that WRhine listed.
We'll have enough money left over to put 1,770 checkpoints on Afghanistan's damn borders.
Illegal immigration isn't a mere "pet peeve". It's responsible for 8 years of Clinton, a large portion of the National, State and Local Debt and it's destroying our nation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.