Government still ignoring terrorist threat from jihadis based in Mexico

By Norah Petersen

The danger of Islamic terrorists entering the United States through Mexico is a dire concern in a post-9/11 world. Yet, the threat of Islamic terrorists just south of the border existed even before 9/11. A 2003 Library of Congress report entitled "ORGANIZED CRIME AND TERRORIST ACTIVITY IN MEXICO, 1999-2002" revealed :

"Statements made by high-ranking Mexican officials prior to and following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks indicate that one or more Islamic terrorist organizations has sought to establish a presence in Mexico. In May 2001, former Mexican national security adviser and current ambassador to the United Nations, Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, stated, that "Spanish and Islamic terrorist groups are using Mexico as a refuge."

The report mentioned the possibility that Hezbollah might be one of these groups.

"Prior to September 11, Zinser's remarks about "Islamic people" in Mexico sparked speculation among observers that the Lebanese Shi'ite terrorist organization Hizbollah may have established cells in Mexico. A Hizbollah presence in northern Mexico was considered a possibility by observers because of the sizable ethnic Lebanese and Palestinian communities in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey."

Several months after the September 11th attacks, an official from Mexico's National Migration Institute said that persons linked to Osama Bin Laden were in Mexico, although the National Migration Institute itself officially denied this claim.

"In January 2002, National Migration Institute (Instituto Nacional de Migracion-INM) official Felipe Urbiola Ledezma made more alarming were statements. During remarks to the press, Urbiola said, "We have in Mexico people linked to terrorism and we are constantly observing unusual immigration flows...[people connected to] ETA, Hizbollah and even some with links to Usama Bin Laden."

Oddly enough, nearly nine years after 9/11, our government has yet to consider the threat of Islamic terrorists operating in Mexico to be serious enough to warrant any real attempt at securing the southwest border. Go figure.