June 13, 2005

No terrorists in Mexico?

FWIW, see "Mexico's blind eye to al-Qaida activity. Intel sources see porous border posing major terror threat to U.S.":

...Gen. Jorge Serrano, the head of the Attorney General Office's special terrorism investigation unit, says no Muslim terrorists have been found living in Mexico.

Yet intelligence sources in the U.S. and Canada say Islamic jihadists have been working with zealots in Mexico for more than 20 years. Early activities were sponsored by Iran. Later, the recruitment activities got support from the Egyptian, Pakistani and Saudi embassies. It is known the Egyptians paid the rent for a prayer hall and allocated funds for students who wanted to study at the Islamic al-Azhar University in Cairo. The Pakistanis organized Muslim converts and others to visit madrassas in Pakistan, a golden opportunity offered to the Taliban and al-Qaida to reach a larger pool of recruitment candidates. Saudi funds created a range of activities linked to Hajj or studies in Saudi Arabia where young zealots established contacts with Sufi and Wahabi activists one way or another connected to master terrorist Osama bin Laden.

Mexican authorities revealed in 2002 they knew Spanish Muslim converts of Basque origin were present in Chiapas state preaching the ideas of Islam and jihad as they mingled with local aboriginals. At least in two cases Mexican authorities, unable to determine the whereabouts of Basque Muslims, sent letters to their last known address informing them their stay in the country was illegal. According to a CISEN official, most Basque and Spanish Muslims were linked to the North African-based al-Murabitun World Tzotzil Movement, known for its blend of socialism and Islam. Information on Basque activity in Mexico is regularly collected by the Spanish government, but is not shared with the U.S. by the Mexicans...

Now see Rep. John Cornyn: "It is very clear to us that there are no Mexican terrorists".

Posted to Immigration_terror at June 13, 2005 11:16 AM

Comments

"It is known the Egyptians paid the rent for a prayer hall ..."

Does the President know about this?

Posted by: Ralph at June 13, 2005 11:55 AM

Wow, what a zinger.

While I cannot be sure, I think some of this -- "preaching the ideas of Islam and jihad" -- probably goes on in 'prayer halls' as well.

To answer your rhetorical question: Uhh, no, probably not. But then he doesn't appear to know a whole lot about much of anything, does he?

Given that terrorism perpetrated by followers of Islam is a problem, it seems proselytizing by muslims in Mexico might be worth paying attention to.

Especially since no one can really answer the following questions: How many people came over the border from Mexico last nite? Who were they? Where did they come from? What are their intentions?

If the US would do more to secure the border it wouldn't matter so much what was going on in Mexico.

Posted by: eh at June 14, 2005 04:57 AM