Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] [POLITICS] Iowa results

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Fri, 4 Jan 2008, Stephen Montgomery-Smith wrote:

> Mike Miller wrote:
>
> > You can't have really strong borders without lots of armed guards or 
> > some kind of sensing system and a pretty large number of guards.  I 
> > doubt that it is worth the effort.  It is a delusion to believe that we 
> > can block out all the bad guys at the border.  They come in on tourist 
> > visas, student visas, etc., or they are born here!
>
> Well all those MinuteManHG emails I receive have convinced me that we 
> can do better than we currently do.  Perhaps it is delusional to believe 
> that we can completely block it out, but then again it is delusional to 
> think that we can completely stop crime - but we still have a police 
> force, and we still try our level best to keep crime to a minimum.
>
> If we combine a sane immigration policy (like that Bush has suggested) 
> with firm borders, I really do think that the problem can be greatly 
> reduced.  It might not be impossible to stop terrorists, but we can 
> certainly make it a lot harder for them.


Maybe delusional was too strong of a word.  Here's my strongest position, 
which could be wrong:  Border security does *nothing* to prevent terrorist 
attacks.  That could be wrong, but consider this -- has any terrorist ever 
illegally crossed one of our borders to enter this country and then 
committed some terrorist attack?  I think not, and it certainly isn't 
because our security has been good.

We are very easy to attack and it's going to stay that way.  I was just 
reading in a NY Times blog how easy it should be to sneak a bomb or 
somesuch into a commercial jet in cargo:

http://jetlagged.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/look-out-below/

If this hasn't happened before, it probably isn't because it is so hard to 
attack us in that way, it's probably because no one wants to do it all 
that badly.

Mike

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