Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
San Diego Union-Tribune
September 13, 2008
Border not seen as terrorist entry point
By E. Eduardo Castillo, Associated Press
MEXICO CITY – Mexico says it has arrested 12 people on terrorism charges in the seven years since the Sept. 11 attack on the United States, but an official said none were linked to Muslim extremist groups such as al-Qaeda nor were any planning to strike in the United States.
Officials from both nations say there hasn't been any sign of the southern U.S. border becoming an entry point for terrorists, as had been feared after the suicide jetliner hijackings that struck New York and Washington in 2001.
The Mexican government disclosed the 12 arrests this week in response to a public information request seeking details of any terrorism arrests in the past seven years. The Associated Press made the request in February.
Many Americans feared that Islamic terrorists from al-Qaeda might try to slip into the United States by linking up with the criminal gangs and drug cartels that control large swaths of Mexico and smuggle drugs and migrants across the border.
Asked whether Mexico's 12 terrorism arrests were linked to plots against the United States, an official at the Mexican Attorney General's office said none “had anything to do with that.”
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said five were Spaniards linked to the Basque separatist group ETA and seven were Mexicans involved in radical domestic activities in Mexico.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said yesterday that the United States is working with Mexico to ensure terrorists don't turn to Mexico. “There's no indication that there's been a direct al-Qaeda presence in Mexico,” he said. “But there certainly have been individuals that present security concerns.”
Knocke wouldn't elaborate, but one of the U.S. government's recent worries has been smuggling networks moving East African migrants through Latin America and into the U.S. Two such smugglers operating in Mexico and Belize were arrested last year.
In a speech Wednesday on international terrorism threats, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the biggest threat in Mexico is likely the powerful drug trade, in which gangs target both police and civilians and often behead their enemies.
“These enterprises may currently be criminal enterprises, but we cannot rule out the possibility in the future that they may take on a more political coloration,” Chertoff said.
Many people from Muslim countries now have trouble getting visas to visit Mexico, and officials have arrested dozens of Christian Iraqis who fled violence in their homeland and tried to sneak into Southern California through Mexico.
Thomas Sanderson, deputy director of the transnational threats project at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said al-Qaeda usually sends its members through Europe because, unlike Mexico, citizens of those countries can enter U.S. territory without a visa.
“We are more likely to see people come in through airplanes,” he said.
Sanderson doubted that al-Qaeda operatives would expose themselves to organized crime or smuggling groups in Mexico. “They'd be concerned that their cover or their effort would be exposed. It's unfamiliar territory for them,” he said.
September 13, 2008
Border not seen as terrorist entry point
By E. Eduardo Castillo, Associated Press
MEXICO CITY – Mexico says it has arrested 12 people on terrorism charges in the seven years since the Sept. 11 attack on the United States, but an official said none were linked to Muslim extremist groups such as al-Qaeda nor were any planning to strike in the United States.
Officials from both nations say there hasn't been any sign of the southern U.S. border becoming an entry point for terrorists, as had been feared after the suicide jetliner hijackings that struck New York and Washington in 2001.
The Mexican government disclosed the 12 arrests this week in response to a public information request seeking details of any terrorism arrests in the past seven years. The Associated Press made the request in February.
Many Americans feared that Islamic terrorists from al-Qaeda might try to slip into the United States by linking up with the criminal gangs and drug cartels that control large swaths of Mexico and smuggle drugs and migrants across the border.
Asked whether Mexico's 12 terrorism arrests were linked to plots against the United States, an official at the Mexican Attorney General's office said none “had anything to do with that.”
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said five were Spaniards linked to the Basque separatist group ETA and seven were Mexicans involved in radical domestic activities in Mexico.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said yesterday that the United States is working with Mexico to ensure terrorists don't turn to Mexico. “There's no indication that there's been a direct al-Qaeda presence in Mexico,” he said. “But there certainly have been individuals that present security concerns.”
Knocke wouldn't elaborate, but one of the U.S. government's recent worries has been smuggling networks moving East African migrants through Latin America and into the U.S. Two such smugglers operating in Mexico and Belize were arrested last year.
In a speech Wednesday on international terrorism threats, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the biggest threat in Mexico is likely the powerful drug trade, in which gangs target both police and civilians and often behead their enemies.
“These enterprises may currently be criminal enterprises, but we cannot rule out the possibility in the future that they may take on a more political coloration,” Chertoff said.
Many people from Muslim countries now have trouble getting visas to visit Mexico, and officials have arrested dozens of Christian Iraqis who fled violence in their homeland and tried to sneak into Southern California through Mexico.
Thomas Sanderson, deputy director of the transnational threats project at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said al-Qaeda usually sends its members through Europe because, unlike Mexico, citizens of those countries can enter U.S. territory without a visa.
“We are more likely to see people come in through airplanes,” he said.
Sanderson doubted that al-Qaeda operatives would expose themselves to organized crime or smuggling groups in Mexico. “They'd be concerned that their cover or their effort would be exposed. It's unfamiliar territory for them,” he said.