Posted on 04/24/2004 7:45:44 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Pick up any newspaper and the headlines are typically about the 9/11 Commission querying what advance warning was available, and what actions (if any) were taken to combat the growing terrorist threat. Even as the press is in a tizzy about these seeming revelations, the FBI has not only identified one glaring hole in the nation's security system but also pointed out its risks, yet has provoked only a collective yawn in response.
The reason, I surmise, is that the FBI is pointing fingers at one of the most sacred of cows: the Matricula Consular program, or MCAS (for Matricula Consular de Alta Seguridad). What is a MCAS? It is an identification card issued to Mexican nationals residing in the United States by the Mexican government via their 47 consulates here. The cards are issued regardless of the applicant's immigration status; the FBI believes two million illegal Mexicans are already carrying this form of i.d.
Unlike a traditional passport (which the FBI favors), the Matricula Consular does not readily identify a foreigner's legal status. Thus, if someone has a valid passport, then he is "legal," but if he presents a Matricula Consular, even one validly issued by a Mexican consulate, that means very little.
The roots of the Matricula Consular program go back to the Vienna Convention of 1963 on Consular Relations, a document signed by 160 countries (including ours). The Mexican government started issuing these i.d. cards in 2001. In San Antonio alone, 13,000 cards are issued each year.
In America's southwest, the use of this form of i.d. has become pandemic. It is accepted at major banks for opening a new account, recognized by many local police departments as a legitimate form of i.d., and is even deemed suitable for the purpose of obtaining a driver's license in several states.
Disappointingly, elected officials from both parties are seeking to expand the acceptance of the Matricula Consular. One obvious reason is that Mexican citizens working in the U.S. transfer an estimated $12 to 13 billion annually back to their home nation. They also open bank accounts here to facilitate these transfers.
So, what are the terrorist risks posed by the MCAS? Let me have the FBI explain it in its own words. I quote verbatim from an unclassified Intelligence Assessment report on the topic issued on March 25, 2004, by the FBI's San Antonio branch. This report was presented to a recent committee meeting of the Texas Legislature now studying this topic. The presentation was made by Pat Patterson, special agent in charge in San Antonio.
As you read these excerpts — all from a report issued less than a month ago — please keep in mind the much-ballyhooed hearings now underway in Washington to probe too-long ignored law-enforcement warnings concerning terrorism. I also stress that I am merely lifting a few snippets from a report that details the FBI's concerns far more extensively within its 23 pages.
Let us begin with some of the security issues relating to the cards:
Now onto the FBI's concerns that the use of these foreign-issued i.d. cards could increase:
Patterson elaborated on the FBI's concerns to the committee regarding additional nations issuing these i.d. cards by noting that the tri-border region of South America (where Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil intersect) was now recognized as a "hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism."
As for the card's utility to terrorists, the report offers several items to ponder. Pay particular attention to the last sentence of the last paragraph quoted:
So, in summary, we have a federal law-enforcement agency issuing concerns about a security threat involving a popular-with-politicians program that are specific, blunt, and recent. The warnings have also being repeatedly offered — as the FBI detailed many of these same concerns in testimony before the U.S. Congress almost a year ago.
Yet, these words of warning appear to be falling upon deaf ears.
I have to wonder: Will some future commission investigating a terrorist atrocity be directed to these very same warnings and ponder aloud why nobody cared to pay much attention before it was too late?
Let us fervently hope not.
Consular employees make small fortunes selling multiple matricula cards in the parking lots and, while most of their revenue is sent back to Mexico and the PANista criminals in the DF, they are able to live very well, themselves.
In fact, many non-Mexicans have purchased matriclua cards to present as proof of identification. Many of the kerrorists that have paid Fox a fee to get to the US have matricula cards. When you get arrested on the 405 for having no license or insurance, it is well worth the cost to have another card that will, in effect, give you a clean record in the morning.
No, the matricula cards allow folks to prove who they are no matter how many differnet names and identities they use and these price is reasonable.
As long as the political hacks deem it proper to engage in the business of assigning blame, rather than location and fixing the problem, we will continue to blunder from one pile of cow flop to another.The worst fears of the Founding Fathers are realized in the state of todays federal government.It is an institution that badly needs a serious scrubbing down. Nothing that is attempted, either of a political, social or economic nature escapes becoming a partisan issue. Face it: they have no real interest in the wellbeing of the country. Their interest is in re-election and maintaining their party in power..and that extends to both parties. No one has a corner on that market.
The hypocrisy of our government is frightening and dangerous. Homeland Security is nothing but a big scam on America, because it doesn't exist. Mass deportation should be occurring, but instead they're inviting more to come in.
What a crime that we can't even depend on the Republican Party to do the right thing anymore.
Let us fervently hope not.
I hope not too but as you probably know there are many of us who have to learn the hard way!
Maybe this would have been more to Derbez's liking.
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