Originally posted by spgoode:

How would they get here? When will they get the chance? That "taking the fight to the terrorists" nonsense is getting old. That is not a reason for being in Iraq.
All it would take is a tiny fraction of the money we are spending in Iraq to tighten our borders and beef-up airport security so that no terrorist would have a chance of getting here.



The same ways they did before. Student visas, slipping through border crossings (from Canada and Mexico...law enforcement on the southern border are worried that after a few months of immersion in Mexico and some language training, Arab terrorists could be almost indistinguishable from Mexicans), other legitimate travel. What you don't seem to understand about the war on terror is that it's not all just bullets and bombs. The biggest victories are in the capture of papers, computers, lists, and plans...it's not just about who we kill or capture, it's about how much we can learn about their methods, their rosters, and their plans. Al Qaeda is pretty compartmentalized, sure, but the more intel we gather, the more likely it is that we can roll up cells here and abroad. To get that kind of intel, you have to go to the source, which is why we went to Afghanistan, it's why we went to Iraq (yeah, I said it, and the New York Times actually slipped up after Zarquai got popped and printed that the US had intel on him being in Iraq before the invasion ever happened), and it's why I have a feeling that we'll be heading back to Somalia pretty soon, because AQ has apparently moved there and taken over Mogadishu.

"Think of it, if you like, as a librarian with a G-string under the tweed." Clarkson on the Mondeo.