A few days back, General Hayden, the nominee to head up the CIA, defended his warrentless eavesdropping and data mining on US citizens at the NSA by saying that it was necessary to defend against "the enemy already within the gates." Considering the ongoing refusal of the Bush Administration to secure our borders, this excuse runs false.
Likewise, the President's proposal to use the National Guard to secure the borders is also questionable. Once the President gets his desired amnesty for those who cross our borders illegally, the proposal for the National Guard will be quietly shelved and forgotten. Our borders will remain wide open the same time that our government ever increasingly spies on its own citizens.
If anybody remembers the "Dubai Ports" deal, one of the claims of the administration was that security would be handled by US Customs, the Coast Guard, and other government security agencies. However, the administration now plans on having Hutchison Whampoa, a Hong Kong company with ties to Communist China's military, conduct the screening for nukes and other security functions for containers being shipped to the US from a major port in the Bahamas. Talk about outsourcing. Note that there wouldn't be any subsequent inspections once the containers reach the US.
It appears as if the Bush Administration is more interested in spying on its own citizens, in violation of the Constitution, than it is in securing the borders. Too many have been willing to excuse the violation of the Constitution on the basis of it's necessary to keep us secure. However, those violations haven't made us more secure, only less free.
In view of our lousy border security, it's a good thing that our government hasn't been stirring up potential enemies against us by invading or bombing countries half way around the globe, or threatening to initiate nuclear strikes against other countries. It's a good thing our government hasn't been torturing foreign nationals in Cuba or the Middle East. It's good that nobody has a reason to test our porous and unsecured borders in order to do us harm.
Rich Beecher
RichBeecher@AChattanoogaWhig.com