- News
The Mexican insurgency
Soon after the 1993 bombing of the trade center, and for years after its subsequent total destruction in 2001 the issue of illegal immigration by members of Islamic militant groups was a frequent topic in the news. It became obvious that there were "sleeper cells" of anti-American activists who were bent on our destruction and would attempt to affect it from inside our borders. We asked questions like "How were these people getting into the country?", "Where were they living while they were here?", and "Who, if anyone was harboring and aiding them in their goals?" Questions like these were being asked regularly. As our nation made entry by foreign nationals from countries harboring terrorist groups more difficult via airline, many wondered what those determined to harm the US would try next. One idea included simply walking over the border from Mexico or Canada since entry from those states was (in some areas along the border) totally unregulated. The US has since poured more money into border security (at least along the southern border) but largely in response to concerns about violent "gangs" and "drug lords" who are operating along that border. However, I'm beginning to become more concerned with the direction that the violence is taking in Mexico. A report buried deep in CNN today mentions the assassination of the seventh Mexican mayor in central Mexico today and indicates to me an agenda aimed at military control of central Mexico. Before I even finished typing this I see that Hillary Clinton is quoted in an Al Jazeera article as saying that what is happening in Mexico is looking more like an insurgency. The real question in my mind is whether the people behind the violence in Mexico are actually just home-grown Mexican "drug gangs" and whether they are creatures of our own making (at what was formerly known as the School of the Americas) or whether they might actually be in alliance with militant thugs from abroad with designs on making it easier for those militants abroad to gain direct military access to the US border.