Still Think Border Controls Don't Matter?

If so, consider this story from Time Magazine which reports claims from captured Al-Qaeda operatives that OBL's organization is trying to snuggle nukes into Mexico and from there into the USA. If true, this is VERY bad news and an indication of how our weakness on immigration issues is directly related to the War on Terror. 4 years after 9/11, our southern border is still under-patrolled, under-protected, and generally under-worried-about by either the Mexican or American governments. It it one of the longest borders in the world, and without a Berlin-type wall it is probably impossible to seal it off. But we can make it easier for honest workers (that we want) to make it across, and harder for everyone else to steal across.



Of course, it must also be noted that this story assumes 2 very big things. (1) That Al-Qaeda has (or will have) access to a nuclear weapon. And, of course, that the access includes nuclear weapons that could be smuggled into Mexico. The average warhead is way too big to be easily hidden and the typical trigger (uranium or plutonium) is too radioactive to stay hidden for long. And (2) it assumes that they could find Mexicans willing to help with the operations. While Mexico has its share of criminals, few to none are suicidal. And there could be nothing worse for the Mexican underworld than to have the American CIA and Special Forces focussing their energies on rooting out smugglers and border-runners. The fact that both of these "2 big things" are so unlikely does make me wonder about another option: Is it possible that Al-Qaeda has an active anti-intelligence arm that specifically gives to each cell a different way-out possibility to blab to interrogators? It would be an effective way to keep us chasing out tails, while they focus on trying to work out a more conventional attack.