Terror's South American Front

Situated between Argentina and Brazil, the sprawling Iguazu waterfalls are among the most popular tourist destinations in South America, with nearly 2 million visitors flocking annually to witness their extravagant beauty. In recent years, however, the area surrounding the falls has also attracted a far less savory element. In the shadow of the Iguazu lies the �tri-border� region, a lawless zone which has become a magnet for Islamic terrorists.


Located where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet, the area is home to roughly 20,000 Middle Eastern immigrants�mostly from Lebanon and Syria�and has long been a hotbed for terrorist fundraising, arms and drug trafficking, counterfeiting and money laundering. By moving freely through the region�s porous borders, operatives from the terrorist organizations Hizbollah, Hamas, and according to some reports, al-Qaeda, are able to conduct arms-for-drugs deals with secular Latin American terrorist groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Peru�s Sendero Luminosos (Shining Path). All told, U.S. officials believe that between $10 and $12 billion is funneled through the tri-border region each year, with Hizbollah among the prime beneficiaries.

www.frontpagemagazine.com...

This is insane!?!?! What the # is going on over there? Those guys are making more money over there than most companies are making GROSS in a year in the States!?!?!



Mr. M

Yeah, down in South America it can get pretty fierce lawless, especially down in the heavily forested areas- namely because the locals are on the take or threatened into silence. With such a thick canopy, aerial observation is next to nil, and so the only way to go do things is on foot. Look at ol' Pablo, he ran billions of dollars of coc aine out of there for years and years...

The problem isn't the governments, it's the territory. Well, maybe a little bit the governments...

DE

I think we should do something about this. I mean, if it is in the news, then the CIA must know everything about their operations! The CIA knows about this kind of stuff long before it hits the headlines, so there is no excuse why we aren't taking action. This area is obviously a HUGE resource for terror networks, and if we shut it down, they will be seriously hurting for cash.

Mr. M

Here are the problems:

1. Jurisdiction. It's not ours, and America is already treading a thin line with other world governments. A lot of the officials in said governments are either on the take or being blackmailed by these smugglers and growers, and the rural poor don't really have much choice in where they work. Smacks of conspiracy to keep us out... and prolly rightly so.

2. The military presence is insufficient to go clean thigns up in the region. Things can't even be called stable down there. It's the wild west...a perfect breeding groudn for terrorists and criminals.

3. The terrain is the ugliest, biggest, hottest lump of jungle on the planet. It's massive, the conditions are unforgiving, adn we're on there home ground if we want to sweep it. It would be an absolute nightmare.

DE

And with such a huge terrorist presense in this area doesn't this make our mexican border even more of a problem? I "believe" travel between those countries and mexico is pretty relaxed. And we all know how easy it is to get into the US from Mexico.

So while our soldiers are off in the middle east we have huge numbers of terrorist south and north of our borders...

Despite the crap the media has fed you, Canada doesn't harbor terrorists. Everyone jsut blames us for everything because they can get away with it. Just because you hear it, doesn't mena it's true.

DE

Well... you have some of the most relaxed immigration policies in the world and we seem to have an open border with you. It is not all your fault, we share in the border issue but come on, I have traveled to canada many many times and well only a couple of times have they even looked at us as we crossed, never have they checked ID's and a few time we crossed with no guards at all (in Montana near Glacier National Park).

Our immigration laws are lax, eh? Strange... we haven't suffered a single act of terrorism -domestic or otherwise- since the PLQ crisis in the 70s. Our borders are safe. Yours...yours are a different question. America can't expect Canada to police the entire border by itself. Now, back to South America. Since guerrillas and terrorists have free reign there, what are we goign to do about it?

DE

I think the U.S. should correspond with the mentioned countries (if they haven't already), and negotiate a resolution dictating immigration regulations and so on.

If possible, we should implement a security program, whereas our forces work hand in hand with other countries to help eliminate this problem.

I know, I know, our guys are busy as hell right now. But do you honestly think that these countries can handle something this big on their own?


Mr. M

Hell, the entire American war machine would have trouble with FARC. There have been a number of joint operations (such as the one which ended Pablo Escobar's life) with the locals, but they only curb the problem, and only for a little while than that. It's an awful mess, and America is the biggest buyer of drugs the rebels and terrorists could ever hope for.

DE

I just feel that there is too much money being made on the terrorists part to go unnoticed by the upper echelons of government. If we want to win the "war" on terrorism, we must cut off their resources.

Read "The Art of War". Supplies and other resources are essential to winning a war. Without these, the enemy can be easily defeated.

Mr. M

I have my own copy, thank you. But I think there's too much moeny being made from this little war, and too many fat fingers in the pie for it to end so quickly.

And, as I recall, Sun Tzu said: "The military values victory. It does not value prolonging."

We have known about the South Americna problem for some time- why do we prologn delaing with it?

DE

I'm not sure. All I know is that the U.S. economy, along with others, are suffering from the current world events, while the terrorists are getting rich.

This is not to say that the U.S. is not getting rich also from the war on terrorism, it's just that it is not showing through the threads of economy. Most of the profit is being put toward the sustainment of troops and military presence throughout the world.

I think it is only logical to assume that the terrorists are using this money to hurt other people. Therefore, this source of funds should be viewed by the U.S. as an equivalent to weapons and so on, because it is through this source that all of their technology and weapon systems are obtained.

Mr. M