Guest Column

A Gray World

By Joe Armendariz

January 24, 2005

 According to a stunning new book (it hasn't been released to the public yet), every year roughly 800,000 slaves, mostly from Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, are smuggled into countries around the world including democracies like Holland and America. According to the author, 90% are women, many are children, and most are sold for sexual purposes. What a world!
 
 Here is the point: a system that can smuggle slaves can smuggle terrorists. America seems to lack the will to do very much about this risk to our national security.
 
 The so-called "Gray World", which includes illegal narcotics, drug dealing, illegal transportation across borders, international arms dealers, traditional international crime and people smuggling, is, in the opinion of the author, what America should fear most and should be doing a much better job planning and preparing for. Who could disagree?
 
 The reality is we are totally inept at controlling our own borders. This is not breaking news. And while poor Mexicans, impoverished Guatemalans and other Latin American refugees, who come here to pick broccoli and strawberries is a problem for county, state and federal taxpayers, an even more serious problem is the Islamic extremist who is intent on coming to America for the purpose of detonating a nuclear device, or unleashing a weapon of mass murder such as a flu pandemic that could potentially kill 130 million Americans and within a matter of weeks.
 
 The pro-immigration advocates just don't get it. They refuse to understand that America is involved in a civil war with Islamic extremists and that our borders are the weakest front in our line(s) of defense. It is essential we win this war and we can't unless we invest tens of billions more in homeland security than the Presidents FY 05 budget calls for. We must do more then we seem committed to doing.
 
 For example, according to experts in domestic security infrastructure, we need to enhance, and maybe even transform the FBI, the Border Patrol and the Coast Guard. We even need to invest significant resources in various international agencies such as Interpol it has been suggested. This war won't be won on the cheap and already far too many Americans, including many I know personally, are whining about the cost of the war in Iraq which is only a small component of what is and will remain a global campaign.
 
 It would be interesting to invite someone to speak locally on what winning this Islamic civil war will cost American taxpayers and what losing the war will cost western civilization.
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Joe Armendariz is Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Industrial Association and the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association, he is a frequent contributor to a variety of conservative political opinion sites and is a city councilman in the coastal city of Carpinteria, California. Contact at: jaarmendariz@cox.net