Virtue Magazine

“On Tuesday, former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing: ‘No border security is possible without Mexican cooperation” and “there can be no cooperation [from the Mexican government] without some sort of immigration reform package‘.” The article goes on to describe what Mr. Castaneda means by “immigration reform package”: Amnesty for all Mexicans living illegally in the U.S., the addition of some 5 million additional Mexican citizens to the U.S. over the next 10 years, and massive increases in U.S. aid to that country.

These people are our friends? Get real, people! Mexico is no more a friend to the United States than Saddam Hussein, and is potentially more dangerous. What better route for a terrorist to enter the United States than for them to go to Mexico, and slip across our practically undefended border? It happens all the time. Millions of illegal aliens now live in the United States, providing a labor surplus that threatens to continue to drive down wages. Drug dealers and terrorists have often transgressed our borders, and a frightening number of Americans have been murdered by these violators. To show how serious our Mexican friends are about these crimes, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that it was impermissible to allow a Mexican national to face the death penalty or life imprisonment in the U.S. Mexican president Vicente Fox, who supports President Bush’s “temporary amnesty” policy, and has pushed for total blanket amnesty for illegal aliens, refuses to extradite Mexican criminals who have committed murder in this country. Although Fox has claimed to represent all Mexicans, living in Mexico and the United States, and complains about infringements of “human rights” in the Mexican communities, he refuses to extradite criminals such as Jose Felix, the accused murderer of Oscar Sanchez. This all despite a 1978 treaty with the United States in which Mexico agreed to extradite Mexican criminals who committed crimes in our territory.

One of the major concerns regarding the open wound on our southern border is, as mentioned above, the threat of terrorists entering our country by that route. Recognizing this as our greatest vulnerability, Mr. Castaneda told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that amnesty would be a condition for their help in preventing terrorists from entering our country. That support would be “tough, but non-coercive.” How one handles terrorists in a “non-coercive” manner is anybody’s guess, but it shows just how concerned Mexico is about our terrorism problem. It is almost enough to make one wonder just who’s side they are on. Appallingly, Mr. Castaneda was not challenged by the Committee at all. I think we would all agree with Mr. Dan Stein, who declared,
“Jorge Castaneda is not some obscure voice from Mexico’s distant political past. He served as foreign minister in the current Mexican administration. It is imperative that the Fox government issue a formal repudiation of Castaneda’s remarks and assure the American public that their cooperation in the war against terrorism will not come at the price of extortion.

“When anyone, much less a former foreign minister of a supposedly friendly nation, comes before a committee of the United States Senate and issues ultimatums and thinly veiled threats against the United States, one would expect outrage and condemnation from members of Congress. Instead, we got meek acquiescence or deafening silence from the members who were present. If the government of Mexico is not prepared to join us in this struggle, without conditions, then they cannot claim to be an ally and our government must view them as such. Allies do not engage in extortion.”

Amen, Mr. Stein. Meanwhile, we wait for the repudiation.

In other news, another purported friend of the United States (who I hope most conservatives maintain a healthy distrust of), Communist China, has once again engaged in nuclear saber-rattling against the United States. Chinese general Zhu Chenghu was quoted as saying, “If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammo on to the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons.” This was made in reference to potential American interference with a Chinese campaign to conquer Taiwan, which it still regards as legitimately part of its national territory. Zhu went on to say, “If the Americans are determined to interfere [then] we will be determined to respond. We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course, the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds … of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.”

This should not come as a surprise to those who are aware that Los Angeles was specifically mentioned in the past as a target for Chinese nuclear weapons in the event of confrontation over Taiwan. It makes one wonder if the danger of nuclear holocaust really did die with the Cold War.

Fortunately, the Chinese government has distanced itself from General Zhu’s comments. Assistant minister of foreign affairs Shen Guofang said, “What he talked about were just his personal views.” This, however, is not outright repudiation. I wonder how seriously they consider the opinions of people like General Zhu, and just what the outcome would be if the U.S. interfered with future Chinese military operations against Taiwan. It is something we should seriously consider, and which we should demand our government consider.