Today’s WaPo has a rather sobering article on Hezbollah’s extensive presence in South America, most notably in the “Tri-Border” region of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. This area, with little to no border control, tons of corruption funded by drug and smuggling money, and home to more Arab immigrants than you might expect, turns out to be fertile ground for Islamic extremism.
This ought to get your attention for two reasons:
1. Whenever I hear the words “terrorists” and “drugs” in the same sentence, I take notice. There is so much cash in illegal drugs that you had better believe the AQ and Hezbollah boys and all their little buddies are clamoring to get into the biz as deeply as they can. And don’t think for one second that Osama and Co’s claims to be devout Muslims (ssshhhhyyyyaaaaa, in my best Wayne Campbell impression) will make them think twice about dealing in those most unholy of substances. I’m quite sure they rationalize it by reminding themselves where most of the crap is sold and who it’s going to kill. I bet they get a big old kick out of that.
2. How hard is it to cross into the US from the south unchallenged by legal authority? Are you serious?
Fortunately, there is an easy solution to this problem, and it’s one that will have ENORMOUS benefits for the US which go WAY beyond just taking a whole lotta starch out of the terrorists. What is it, you ask?
Legalize drugs. Control them, sell them out of government stores, tax the living sh** out of them. But make them legally available.
Don’t laugh and don’t tell me I’m nuts.
I can stop on my way home tonight and legally buy a bottle of 151-proof rum, or 180-proof grain alcohol. Are you seriously going to tell me either of those items is less dangerous and less harmful than clean, uncut narcotics? Is a 12-pack of Coors Light or a carton of Winstons less harmful to my brain, body, and (potentially) my future than a half ounce of weed? A bottle of Belvedere is going to kill me slower than pure cocaine?
It’s all bad. But, for whatever reason, we’re able to make our own decisions about the booze and smokes (and, for that matter, the coffee and trans fat), but not about the dope. I don’t get it.
If the Western world legalized drugs, we’d put 2/3 of the world’s crooks out of business overnight.
No, I’m not high. I really believe it. But it’s not the point of this post.
The point of this post is: We’ve got a problem, a very scary problem, brewing to our south. And that’s just the latest spot. These dudes are good at finding remote, loosely-governed, difficult-terrain spots and putting down some low-tech infrastructure in a big hurry. Southwest Asia, South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, you name it. If the ground is inhospitable, the law enforcement is not, and there’s an international airport within a three-day donkey ride, it’s going to be Jihadistan very soon, if it isn’t already.
How we’ve made it nearly six years without another terrorist All-Star Show is beyond me. Have we been lucky? Good? Good and lucky? I don’t know. It can’t last forever, can it? These jerks are going to ruin another American day somewhere, sometime. Aren’t they?
Then what happens? Do we all cower in our homes? Are all “undesirables” rounded up and shipped off to parts unknown? I’m a Jew; does that make me one of “them”? Or one of “us”?
Holy crap, I could use a bong hit.
No comments:
Post a Comment